


One of the 100

by FourandOne



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Grounder Culture, Multi, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-01-06 05:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 38,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12205125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FourandOne/pseuds/FourandOne
Summary: The story of The 100 following the journey of some of my original characters. I put a lot of OC's on the dropship and tell the story of how they adapt to Grounder culture, rather than fight it. Arker characters put in the shadow a bit while the Grounders take the spotlight.(I wrote this for a game I do on Instagram, where every contestant "is" one character and the character's survival depends on the performance of each contestant. So I could not plan who would survive till the end...)





	1. Flash

**Author's Note:**

> Just quickly: don't judge me for the mistakes and leave comments if you like it, it means a lot :)  
> Yes, there are a LOT of characters, read the () in the summary. It gets less crowded by the end.

_**POV (Like you are a delinquent getting of the dropship) - just this chapter** _

\---

A flash of light. And just like that, the door is open.

Your eyes need a few seconds to adapt.

You’ve seen green before, but this, this is something else. One color taking over everything as far and wide as your sight can reach. It’s almost hypnotical. The green.

Suddenly you are woken out of your trance by a girl’s scream. The crowd starts moving, and you, you move too. The quiet admiration you felt swiftly turns into ecstasy.

You start running. Wherever you look there is nothing to stop you. No locked doors, no walls, no bars. Feels like you could go on running endlessly in any direction. Nothing would stop you. No one would stop you.

You jump and you scream and you don’t even know why. You look around at the others. They are all calming down. Gathering. Maybe you should too. You instinctively look for people you know. You may be down here without your family, but you are not alone. There are people from your class, people from the nearest cells. You know them. That has to count for something. You just stand near them. The urge to run out into the forest is strong. The urge to stay is stronger.


	2. Neverland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again this was for a game, so the characters' life before the dropship is basically a mystery.  
> (I had each of the contestants write their character's own backstory...)

Oliver was the first one to return to the Dropship. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy a good teenage celebration, he just wanted to be the first one to contact the Ark. Maybe that would get him some extra points with the Chancellor.

“Oliver, right? Is it working?” Wells seemed to have the same idea.

“I’m not getting a signal. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.”

“Let me try.” Wells fiddled with the metal box some more before deciding to go check the wires on the outside of the ship.

Oliver stayed behind, pushing any and all buttons when another boy arrived, claiming to get this kind of stuff. His name was Mony… Um, Monty.

\---

There she was. Clarke, already working on something on a piece of paper.

“How’s my favorite Earth Skills nerd?” Cameron approached her. _Attaboy, Cam, call her a nerd…_

“Keep walking, Park!” Wells positioned himself between Clarke and Cameron. Of course he was here. Honest to God, it was like Clarke had a second shadow! And how the hell did that little kissass even make it here? Wells Jaha is a lot of things, but a criminal? No.

“Relax, Wells,” Clarke looked up, “And, Cam, I really don’t need any help here. I’ve got no time to explain everything.”

Well, that was rude. Cameron turned around after getting a nudge from Wells. God, those two were tense…

“Hey, Cameron! Over here!” It was John, Cameron’s friend. He was standing with another kid named John. John Murphy. That guy had like fifteen other strong-armed men gathered around him and Cameron didn’t like the looks of them. But he walked over. He just didn’t feel like being alone.

\---

Oliver had just exited the Dropship and wanted to get some air when he heard someone calling for him.

“You! Kid with the glasses! We need you!”

The one yelling was Cooper. Felix and he were sitting around a big pile of firewood. Oliver got closer and only then did he notice James kneeling on the ground rubbing two sticks together.

“Are you nearsighted or farsighted?” James asked.

Oliver just shrugged. He didn’t feel like discussing it with them.

“Focus, man,” James walked over to him, “If you take them off, do you see me better or Cooper?”

“I guess, him.” Oliver said after testing.

“Then we need them. Just for a little while.”

Oliver handed his glasses over.

“And we’ll need some water to focus it better.” Upon hearing James say that, both Felix and Cooper went looking.

\---

Logan stared speechlessly as Clarke tried to convince the crowd to leave for Mt. Weather and Bellamy opposed her.

“And the plot thickens.” Elliot smirked. Gladly the two couldn’t hear him.

“Excuse me. You talking to me?” Logan said.

“Didn’t you read _Lord of the Flies_?”

“Everyone read-” Logan started but was interrupted.

“Well, I can’t help but to draw parallels with our situation. And you do know how Simon ends up?”

“This is nothing like that.”

“You’re right, we’re older and have a history with breaking the rules.”

“Still, we are better than that.”

“May I present a different argument? Peter Pan.” Elliot pointed at Bellamy and then turned to Clarke, “Wendy.”

“Oh, shut up.”


	3. Fresh Start?

May sat on the ground and played with a flower she picked. The excitement has all but faded. She was the only one sitting alone, but not far from the others.

“Why so grim?” A girl walked out of nowhere soaking wet.

“What the hell were you doing, Bailey?” May responded.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I went swimming.”

“You really shouldn’t go into the forest alone anymore.”

“Chill. There ain’t nothing in that forest that’s gonna mess with me.” Bailey smiled and walked towards the crowd of people gathered around the fire.

“You can come closer, you know.” May heard another voice. When she turned around she recognized Bellamy Blake. The King of the Ground. As if…

“No, thank you.” she looked away again.

“I get wanting to be alone and all… But if you join us, no one is gonna judge you. Not here. Not us.”

May looked up again, but didn’t say anything.

“This. This is our world now. We can make it into anything we want.”

“A fresh start? That doesn’t sound bad. Just not for me.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone who’s beyond saving. How about you come join us? Maybe some company would do you good.”

“Not feeling it. Sorry.”

“I get it. You still feel trapped. But I think I know how to liberate you. You can take off the only thing connecting you to the people that locked you up.” he looked at her wristband.

“While I have a long history of doing whatever the hell I want, without giving a damn about any authority, this thing is staying on.” she gestured him to leave.

“Whatever the hell you want.” he walked away.

Maybe she should want to get back at them. Make them pay. But for some reason she wasn’t ready to part with that piece of metal around her wrist just yet.

Later she heard them chanting the phrase “Whatever the hell we want”. Seriously?

\---

Soon after, they diminished the fire and each found a place to lay down their head for the night. Some of the pushier, meaner kids got themselves a place to sleep in the dropship. Others slept under the stars. Not that they minded. Sure, they’ve seen stars from the Ark, and more of them too, but there was something about this view.

Russell emitted a loud sigh as he was changing his position for the tenth time. He could not fall asleep as much as he tried.

“How about you keep it down, jackass?” Mackenzie’s suggestion was met with praises from the crowd.

“Wanna go for a walk, man?” Logan got up and walked over to where Russell was lying down. Everyone that he could talk to was already asleep. What was the harm?

“Sure.” Russ dusted off and followed Logan away from the campsite.

They talked about maybe the only thing they had in common – what they did to end up in the Skybox. It was not the most cheerful of topics, but Russell was relieved he didn’t follow a deranged murderer into the woods. At one point they stopped to look more closely at what appeared to be glowing butterflies. They were not experts on the subject but were pretty sure insects are not supposed to glow. Then they heard branches breaking and turned around.

“Really, Mack? You’re trying to scare us?” Logan rolled his eyes after realizing it was only Mackenzie.

“I just want to go for a walk. That other team is out there still, looking for food. I thought we could go exploring too.”

“If you must.”

“And besides, who’s gonna keep you two nerds safe?” Mack smirked and was pulled down by Logan. He saw something. He pointed to a clearing not far from them without making a sound. There was Wells. And Bellamy. Bellamy with a gun. Russ tried to say something, but was hit between his ribs. There were other guys there too. Moving towards Wells. Should they do something?

“You guys really shouldn’t be here.” someone whispered behind them. Lucky for them it was only Cameron. He crouched next to them.

“What are they doing?” Logan asked.

“Taking off his wristband,” Cameron started, “They wanted me to do the same. I said I’d do it, but now I’m not so sure. Why don’t they want us to be rescued?”

“Elliot was right. This is not good. We have to get him.” Logan didn’t take the time to explain.

\---

“That is bad. That’s it, we’re leaving.” Elliot said after hearing what they witnessed.

“Leaving?” Russell was confused.

“We?” Mackenzie was too.

“Yeah, we. If you want to join Bellamy and build Neverland, then go ahead. But if you want the human race to return to Earth, then you need to go and wake up every person you can trust.” Elliot said.

“Should we talk to Clarke? When she gets back.” Cameron suggested.

“The girl that was in for treason? No, thank you.”

“And what were you in for?”

“Let’s just say the guy had it coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all comments will be much appreciated...


	4. Short-lived

The following day Clarke’s team returned during another pointless fight. But that kid with the goggles didn’t come back with them. So after some time they went after him. Wells, Clarke, Finn, Murphy, Bellamy and Bellamy’s gun. This was the definition of perfect timing. If they were gonna leave with some supplies and their wristbands, it was now or never.

“Are you thieves or not?” Elliot asked.

“We are. It’s just that there’s nothing to steal.” Madison defended herself. Mackenzie and she have been trying to find some food, but they’ve been unsuccessful.

“You are telling me that none of those smug bastards have any food stashed?”

“That’s what I’m telling you, Chief.” This was her second day on the ground and she was already feeling bossed around.

“Well, we got what you asked for.” Tyona presented a bag with a few knives made out of metal pieces from the ship, “I would have brought more, but this one didn’t let me take more than half.”

“Hey, we make up exactly twenty percent of the population. How is it fair that we have more than half the weapons?” May said.

“We could have simply stolen his gun while he was sleeping. But no one wanted to listen to reason. You know they’re saying there are other people out there?” Felix meddled.

“Enough. We’ll make do with what we have,” Logan said, “Now everyone spread out and meet at the butterfly field later.”

And they all went in separate directions. They might have left the camp without being spotted if Tyona had not slipped and dropped the bag with the weapons. Lucky for them Elliot acted quickly.

“This. It’s exactly what it looks like,” he ran over to the big fire, “We are leaving. Now, you can come with us. We’ll build a new camp and wait for our people to come down. JJ?”

James ran to him and took one of the big branches from the fire. As did Logan.

“When they come back, tell them not to go after us.” James waved the torch around.

“Just because we came down together, that doesn’t mean we have to survive together.” Logan said and started walking out of camp.

Exactly nineteen other people followed him. Logan and Elliot walked at the front, followed by other’s carrying weapons, water, clothes and pieces of the ship.

\---

The thing was none of them knew where exactly they were going. They started walking in the opposite direction from the place where that kid got attacked.

“Everyone, take five.” Elliot yelled when they reached a nice shady place by a creek. Everyone put down their things and sat down, some of them going up to the water to wash up.

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but do you have any idea where you are leading us?” Junior carried his torch over to where Logan and Elliot were sitting and plunged it into the ground.

“Not exactly.” Logan said.

“Then how about this place?” Russ was near them so he overheard the conversation, “It’s got running water, fruit trees, shade and deer might actually come to us when they’re thirsty.”

“You forgot predators have to drink too.” May joined.

“You’re right. We’ll keep a fire going non-stop. Should keep away the occasional wolf. If there even are wolves still.” Elliot said.

“And what about the people? Clarke said we are not alone.” Daisy just said what everyone was thinking. It was a bit worrying that there might be people watching them right there and then.

“I urge you all not to worry about that. The Ark’s founders were the last Grounders.” Logan stood up so that everyone could hear him, “But we will take shifts in guarding this place. From other prisoners, animals and these _Grounders_.”

“Anyone want to volunteer for the first shift?” Elliot asked. Couple of hands were in the air. He picked Bailey and Tyona. They took their new job seriously and each picked up a weapon and a good spot for surveilling. The others were given jobs too. Most of them helping collect wood for the fire.

\---

“Are you even gonna talk to me?” Russell aimed the question at James.

“What are you talking about?” James took a break from collecting wood which he was doing in a big hurry.

“This. Since the moment we landed you’ve been running around starting fires, making spears, finding water and that is fine. But you haven’t taken a single moment to relax. We’re gonna be OK, you know that?”

“I do.”

“And you don’t have to do everything alone. I’m here. And we’ve made quite a few friends.” Russ smiled.

James dropped the piled of wood he was carrying and took a deep breath, “I just… You took care of me on the Ark. You saved me from that orphanage. And I was always good at Earth Skills, I thought I could finally take care of you. And I guess I am a little bit scared.”

Russ didn’t answer he just took a step forward and kissed him. James didn’t seem to mind.

“I though you’ve met someone cuter in the Skybox.” Russ said after the kiss ended.

“Never.” James smiled.

Cooper was the closest to the kissing couple so at one point he looked their way.

“Seriously?” he laughed, “At the last camp it was Trina and Pascal always making out everywhere you looked. Now it’s gonna be you?”

“Afraid so.” Russell took his boyfriend’s hand.

“Hey, guys, you have to hear this!” Cooper called for the others, “Guys!”

“Where is everybody?” James asked when he realized no one else was in sight.

They walked around a little, but couldn’t find anybody else. Not in the woods and not by the creek. Then suddenly Russ mumbled something. The other boys turned around and saw a man dressed in furs and bones with a mask on his face. They ran in the opposite direction but saw others looking the same way.

James searched his pockets for a knife, but he was knocked out before he could use it. All of them were.


	5. Separate Paths

They woke up tied up and blindfolded, all twenty of them. They started reaching out their hands and realized they were all laid on the ground next to each other.

“What the hell happened?” Mackenzie spoke first.

“Well, obviously we were taken.” Elliot said a bit louder. His sentence was met by some undiscernible yelling in a foreign language and a sharp hit to his stomach.

Mason was the only one that wasn’t really listening to what her friends were saying, because he was listening to two very far away voices arguing.

“With all due respect, Chief, I think that is a bad idea.”

“Maybe. However, it is my bad idea. And they are my prisoners, Anya.”

“I really think we should take them to see her first.”

“They are useless to Heda. They’re traitors to their own people. They deserted. They won’t know any important information.”

“That is not your decision to make, Indra. It’s hers. And besides, Lexa banned slavery in Trikru years ago.”

“She forbade using slaves, not selling slaves.”

“You want to try telling her that?”

“Fine. You want them? They’re yours. And do with them whatever you please. You can kill them for all I care.”

The voices stopped and a few seconds later Mason could finally see again. A blonde woman wearing a decent amount of black war paint was removing their blindfolds one by one.

“Who are you people?” James asked Anya.

“You will not speak unless spoken to.” she told him and walked away to a spot where everyone could see her.

Mackenzie felt pain on her wrist and took a look at it. Under the rope binding her she could clearly see a small, black triangle tattoo right across her wrist. That surely wasn’t there before. And she wasn’t the only one that noticed that. Soon everyone realized they were marked while unconscious.

“Listen up! My name is Anya. That mark on your arm. That’s a mark we use for slaves. You were captured and you lost your freedom. This gives you a chance to earn it back. A slave doesn’t have to stay a slave forever. If you obey, work hard and prove yourself you can have a very different life. A good life.” she paused there and raised her hand up showing off her wrist. It seemed to have a curiously shaped burn.

“I was marked as a slave too. But I worked so hard I was freed by the last commander. All you need to get your freedom is a brand of any clan leader. And even though I started at the bottom, I ended up being a mentor to the new commander.” she continued.

Every single one of the delinquents kneeled on the ground speechlessly. Slavery? Was that still a thing down here? They sure missed Bellamy and his gun now. Or were they here too? Maybe all of the 100 ended up this way. And the wristbands! These people took of their wristbands to tattoo them. Now to their families, to their friends they were as good as dead.

“Indra?” Anya called over an older warrior.

“You ended up listening to me?” Indra walked closer.

“No. I am taking a couple of them to the Commander. The rest you can sell. I just thought you might want to keep a few of them around. You said the Mountain has been cruel lately. Your village could use some fighters.”

“They will not fight their own people.”

“As you said, they’re deserters. If anyone can train them, it’s you. And if you can’t, just kill them.”

“Alright. How do you want to split them?”

\---

“Which one of you is the leader?” Anya shouted. No one said anything.

“The leader, step up!” she continued louder.

“We have no leader.” Elliot spoke.

“Nobody but the leader would dare say that.” Anya walked over and grabbed him by his hair, “Who do you choose to come with you?”

Elliot was quiet.

“Fine. She’ll do.” Anya pulled Kim to her feet and then Elliot. She led them away from the others and loaded them onto a carriage.

“I will not blindfold you, but behave. I only need one of you to talk to the Commander.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Kim mumbled and got a look from Elliot.

“Tris! Tris!” Anya called out, “Where is that child? Tris!”

Then a brown-haired little girl appeared from the bushes carrying some kind of berries. After a short conversation between her and her master Anya the girl got on the cart too and they started their journey.

“Is your home really in the stars?” Tris turned to Elliot.

“Tris, don’t talk to them.” Anya ordered before he could answer.

“Would you like some fruit?” Tris asked after a few minutes.

“What did I tell you? Don’t talk to him.”

“Sorry, master.” Tris rolled her eyes and slipped a few berries into Elliot’s hand.

\---

Out of all the others Indra carefully picked three she would allow to stay. Mason, Julia and Tyona. She ordered her people to lead them to another part of the village. Out of sight.

Then she called over a man.

“Take the left five. Take them with you to Azgeda. Slaves are of great value there, don’t return without something good.” she instructed and the man took Logan, Oliver, Paul, Mackenzie and Cooper to his cart and put them in a little cage that was on top. They were together, but pretty cramped. Around them were other goods for sale: food, water and weapons. Guess these people saw no difference.

\---

“And the rest of them… To Sankru. You won’t get that good of a price, but the village needs weapons.” Indra ordered two other men. They had cage carts much like the man that rode off to Azgeda seconds before.

“You will regret this, bitch!” Bailey kicked and screamed while they were putting her into a cage where Russell, Junior, Cameron and Felix were already waiting.

May and Madison went quietly into yet another cage on wheels followed by Daisy, Cassia and finally Claudia who scratched one of the traders real bad.

\---

The two carts going to Sankru were the last to leave. The prisoners watched as the scenery turned from the beautifully green forest they were used to by now to an endless sandy plain. Cameron watched five riders catch up with them. More traders, he thought at first. But them they attacked the driver of the carriage behind them. May screamed as their cart didn’t have a driver anymore. Then one of the riders who were attacking jumped from his horse onto their cage.

“Set raun, ai lukot. [Wait, my friend.]” The man said staring right at Daisy who was closest to him. Sadly she couldn’t understand. Then he broke off a wheel and the cart tipped over, broke and came to a stop.

May didn’t waist a second. As soon as the cart stopped moving she wiggled out through the crack in the cage and ran back to where they came from. Not long after, Madison followed her.

The other three prisoners, Daisy, Claudia and Cassia, were helped out by the man that saved them.

“We don’t speak… Whatever it is you’re speaking.” Cassia said to him.

“That is fine. My name is Abriel. And you are welcome.” he said with a smirk on his face.

\---

“It is forbidden to use slaves in this clan.” Indra said to Tyona, Mason and Julia tossing them a small piece of metal. It actually looked as a coin with an infinity symbol carved on it.

“What is that for?” Tyona asked.

“I paid you. Now I cannot be punished by the Commander. But make no mistake, if you try to leave, you’re dead. If you disobey me, you’re dead.”

“And we will be doing what exactly?” Mason put the coin in his pocket.

“Training. For war. Now, I do not think you can become warriors. Prove me wrong.” Indra dropped a bag full of weapons at their feet.

\---

The cart carrying Cameron, Bailey, Felix, Russell and James went on to reach their destination in the middle of the desert. There the five slaves were put up for sale and were all bought the same day by one man.

Hundreds of miles away the slaves sent to Azgeda reached their destination too. They were kept in their cage until sold. They were all so scared they didn’t even have time to admire seeing snow for the first time. A cloaked man paid what looked like a lot to take away Oliver, Mackenzie and Paul. Logan was bought later by an older woman and Cooper by a man carrying a giant axe.

\---

May and Madison reached the forest after a while, but Madison still hasn’t caught up to her friend. She was trying so hard to run faster that she completely missed the trap she stepped right into. The trap deployed and she ended up hanging from a tree in a net.

May didn’t hear her screaming because she was too far away. She only stopped running when a man appeared in front of her wearing what looked like a gas mask. She tried to communicate with him but found herself unable to stand and lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so this is actually where the really story begins.


	6. Property

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might notice I put titles over certain paragraphs to tell you where the events are taking place.  
> The paragraphs without the titles are happening at a non-specific location, like on the road. This is something I will continued doing as the story moves forward.

\---

Madison was in that net for what felt like a few hours when she heard someone shouting.

“Dofo! Chit you dula op, gada? [Hey! What are you doing, girl?]” The man cut her down from the tree.

“Thank you… Sir.” she said.

“Don’t thank me just yet. Don’t think I didn’t see that slave mark. You escape?”

Madison looked at her savior. The thing that stood out most were the clearly decorative scars he had from his forehead to his cheek. He was also dressed too warmly for the weather.

“It’s fine, really. I am in a little trouble with my people too. I’m Roan. What clan are you from anyway?”

“Madison. And I am not from any clan.”

“How can you… You are not one of those people? Sky People?”

“Sounds about right.”

“Goodbye to you then. I can’t be seen with you.” he was just ready to leave when Madison called after him.

“You know about us, then you must know how to get back to my people.”

“Don’t you know how to get back?”

“No.” she looked away.

“Fine,” he sighed, “I’m going to Polis, that is quite close. I can take you.”

\---

“So you are bandits?” Claudia asked after getting some food from her new friends. The little group of five, that saved her, Daisy and Cassia from the slavers, fixed up the cart and they all rode to the nearest village.

“We are whatever we want to be.” Abriel, the leader, said.

“We are outcasts. Not even our parents wanted us. So we became each other’s family,” a girl named Raya explained, “We take what we want. Screw everyone else.”

“But you helped us…” Daisy took some fruit that was on the cart with them.

“You are different, sister,” Abriel started, “We have no problem with you. Just with the Privileged. Warriors and their _honorable_ families. Those who always get everything they want, who always have their way.”

“Sounds horrible.” Daisy understood. The Ark was also a place with a few people who were always at an advantage. Wells Jaha popped into her mind again. Who knew what happened to him by now.

“And we do more than just rob slavers. Stay and you will see.”

\---

TRIKRU

Anya entered the throne room first to explain the situation and the little misunderstanding with the slave mark to the Commander. Then after a few minutes Elliot and Kim were called in. It took them a few steps before they could get a good look at the Commander.

“Bow before Lexa kom Trikru, the Commander of the Twelve Clans.” a bold man standing next to the throne said. Now when they could see the Commander they realized she was much younger than you’d expect. Maybe in her twenties. But she certainly didn’t look harmless. You probably have to be quite tough to be on the top of this society.

And if the Commander’s age wasn’t surprising enough, there were ten or so children in the corner just standing and watching carefully everything that was happening.

Kim and Elliot bowed as instructed.

“Introduce yourselves.” the man ordered while the Commander just sat waiting.

“Elliot. May name is Elliot and this is Kim.”

“Very well,” Lexa spoke finally, “Tell me, Elliot of the Sky People, how many of you are there trespassing on our territory.”

“Little less than a hundred. Including us.”

“He speaks the truth.” Anya confirmed. Guess they’ve been watching the camp.

“Alright. And what is your people’s agenda here, on my territory?” Lexa asked.

“We… See, it is complicated. Our home, in the sky… We are running out of… Air. And so our parents sent us here to see if Earth is survivable.” Elliot struggled.

“Do you really think I’d believe that you are here for air? You are invaders!” Lexa looked over to Anya and the warrior put a knife to Kim’s throat.

“Elliot!” the girl screamed.

“No! No, I swear I’m telling the truth! We came because we had no other choice. We didn’t even know this was anyone’s territory!” Elliot took a step towards the Commander, but was stopped by the bald man.

“Stop!” Lexa ordered Anya and turned to her prisoner again, “Are there more of you coming? Is that what you said?”

“I have no way of communicating with them. But it is a strong possibility.” he calmed down a little after Anya let go of his friend.

“Then I might have a use for you after all. You will stay with me in the capitol, deserters. Now, what can you do? Prove to me that you can be useful while I wait for your people to make the next move.”

“I can look after those kids. I used to babysit.” Kim said trying to prove her worth.

Lexa smirked, “Those kids are future commanders, the most valuable members of the society. They do not need looking after…. You will be their squire. Carry all their training equipment around. Maybe that will teach you respect.”

“And you Elliot?” she asked next.

“I can cook.” Well, that was a lie. Why the hell did he say that?

\---

Tyona swung her stick and knocked Julia to the ground.

“Very good.” Indra nodded, “Mason, now you attack me.”

Just as he was getting ready to swing he noticed a familiar face not far from them. It was Murphy. Bloody, unconscious and being put in a cage.

“Why do they have our friend?” Tyona asked.

“That is not your concern.” Indra was correcting Tyona’s fighting stance.

“Aren’t you supposed to be teaching us things?” Mason got a look, “… Master.”

“Fine, your friend has wondered outside your camp and will be used to our advantage when we go to war with your people.” she answered, “But this war is something that you cannot change. It is going to happen.”

They tried to forget about Murphy and just go back to training, but couldn’t. Later when they were without Indra for a short while Julia presented an idea.

“How about we just open the cage?”

“Yeah, Julie, they would never suspect the only other Sky People in this village!” Mason said as sarcastically as he could.

“Maybe we can give him something to pick the cage lock while we are in training. That way they wouldn’t suspect us. The question is whether we are ready to completely let go of who we were.”

\---

AZGEDA

Oliver, Paul and Mack were all blindfolded. Again. These people really had a way with newcomers…

The first time they were able to look around was when they were lead into underground tunnels of some kind. Up to that point the only thing they noticed was the extreme cold. The room they ended up in was full of kids around their age. They were all standing there in silence, looking blankly at the wall. Like they were an army unit of some kind. Oliver tried to make some conversation with the teenagers, thinking they would be more approachable than the adults, but was only answered with cold stares.

“Welcome to the Assassins of Azgeda.” a woman entered the room wearing a cloak and then removed it, “I am Echo. And I promise that when I am done with you two thirds of you will be dead.”

She stopped for a few seconds to let that sink into their young minds.

“The rest of you, however, will be Assassins. The most respected members of the Ice Nation after the royal family. As most of you know, this is a unique opportunity since we only take children under four to train. Usually. But the times turned desperate. We lost too many brothers and sisters to war. We even turned to searching for recruits outside our clan.”

After she said that everyone turned to look at the three delinquents.

“And to confirm a famous myth, yes, the only way you can formally complete your training is if you manage to kill your master. You can do that at any point, but make sure you are ready because once you try, there is no coming back.” she leaned and showed everyone a still-bleeding wound on her neck, “Since this morning I am officially without a second. Just a centimeter deeper and he would be giving you this speech.”

Mackenzie turned to Oliver and mouthed the word “wow”.

\---

The older woman from the market brought Logan into the largest and best guarded house in the area. She explained that he is to be a personal slave. She gave him a lengthy tour of the house, mostly rooms designated for jobs he will have to carry out, like washing clothes.

“And finally, this is your Master’s room. You will only be here when she is not, unless she calls upon you to do something specific. Do you understand?” she led him into the biggest room he’s seen yet. It had, maybe a hundred candles and… Fur. Fur on the furniture, the floor, everywhere. And there was a comfortable fire burning. He was basically gonna be a maid. There are worst things that could happen to a human being. He nodded.

The woman opened a door to the adjoining room which was quite small and completely empty.

“This is where you will sleep and spend most of your day. I will leave you to it. Just remember to never speak unless spoken to and not to look directly at her.” With that she left, leaving Logan alone. He still had a chain around one of his hands.

In a few moments a girl entered the room. She was young, a little older than Logan maybe and had very visible scars all across her face.

“Didn’t you get the instruction? No staring!” she said and dropped her cloak covered in snow.

\---

“You don’t talk back, you don’t try to escape and you don’t ask for a break. You just chop. Here you go.” These were the only instructions Cooper got before he was handed an axe and shoved in the direction of a very large tree. He imagined a lot of different scenarios before he landed on Earth, but being a lumberjack was not one of them.

What kind of choice did he have now, anyway? He took the axe and trampled through the snow to his work post. The work was not so hard when you learn how to do it. It was just the stupid cold that was making it so damn unbearable.

\---

SANKRU

To most people the hottest place they could imagine was the desert, but for the five newly bought Sankru slaves it got worse. The mines. Miles and miles of damp and dark underground mines.

Bailey got sick just going down there from the air that was a bit hard to breathe. Since the man supervising them wasn’t too happy about that Cameron carried her the rest of the way to their work posts. James and Russ held hands the whole way down, which was difficult to do with chains around their wrists. They were soon handed tools resembling pickaxes and left to digging. But there was always at least one man down there supervising them. Making sure they were working. And he had a whip to make it happen.

Felix was the first to buckle from the heat and exhaustion. Luckily for him, he was picked up by a man working next to him before the supervisor saw him fall.


	7. Their World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I didn't post for a while...  
> Won't happen again I hope.

May woke up in a metal cage. What the hell?

“Hey! Hey! Let me out of here!” she banged on the bars. Then she looked around. There were hundreds of cages just like hers with people inside.

“Hod op. Bilaik hosh. [Stop. Be quiet.]” a woman in the cage near her whispered. Then May saw two men dressed as guards or some kind of law enforcement walk near her.

“Hey! I… I don’t belong here with them! I am not one of them!” May called for them.

“Quiet, outsider!” one of them answered.

“No! I swear you’ve made a mistake! I am not a savage, I know things! Science! Photosynthesis! Oxymoron! Hypothesis! Every action has an equal and opposite reaction! Please!” she panicked a bit because they didn’t even flinch. Then she panicked a lot. She saw two prisoners hanging by their feet from the ceiling. And they had huge tubes of blood coming in and out of them. Was that gonna be her in a few days?

\---

“This is never going to work!” Daisy said. Abriel just smiled. He was standing with Claudia, Daisy and Cassia on the edge of a crowd.

The other members of their gang were preforming a show on a stage they quickly built after arriving to this Trishana village. They had costumes, props and everything so they were collecting a decent amount of coins from the crowd.

As far as Claudia could tell without understanding the language the show was about the arrival of the Sky People. And people seemed to like it, most of them were laughing like crazy.

But while they were occupied by the Skaikru leader tripping over and falling, taking his whole army tumbling down in the performance, Abriel was walking around and snatching things from their pockets and satchels. The girls were expected to do the same. They were afraid of messing up at first, but ended up being quite good for their first day. Maybe staying with these people wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. After all, they were only stealing from the Privileged…

\---

TRIKRU

Murphy has just woken up in his cage when he saw a familiar face. It was Julia. She handed him a small dagger.

“Stop immediately!” she heard a voice from behind her. Oh, hell… She really thought that doing this at night wouldn’t draw attention.

“Did you hear me, girl?!” Indra spoke again and Julia stepped away realizing there is nowhere to run. Tyona and Mason were awake and ran to see what was happening.

“How dare you? These people are your captors! Don’t forget that! They are not your friends!” Julia told them while Indra’s men disarmed her and bound her hands.

“And Murphy? What the hell did he ever do for us? For anyone besides himself?” Tyona turned and walked away.

Indra offered Mason to be the one to kill Julia, but he refused. He just… He didn’t want to. But he did make himself stay and watch as Indra cut off her head. No weakness…

\---

The kids, mostly the oldest one named Aden, loaded Kim with all kinds of training equipment like swords and sticks and lead her out of the throne room.

“Good day, Aden.” Outside was the little girl, Tris, that came here with Anya.

“Good day, Tris.” Aden smiled and bowed a little. Then they both giggled.

“I got this for you.” she pulled out a deep blue flower and handed it to the boy, “I remembered you said they don’t grow near Polis.”

“And I picked this.” he presented her with a bright red flower, “They grow only around the tower.”

Kim couldn’t help but smile, seeing the two of them giving each other flowers like a little lord and lady. Even while the kids were training on a clearing, after Tris went to join her master, they seemed so normal. Yes, they were practicing killing, but they smiled, teased each other and ran around like regular kids. There was nothing evil about them.

\---

Elliot was… In serious trouble. Cook? Cook! Why did he say that? Now he was in the kitchens trying to prove his statement by preparing a meal for the Commander. The people there presented him with a whole lot of ingredients and spices. So what could he do? He attempted to make some kind of soup. At first he tried to taste every spice before deciding which ones to use, but he stumbled upon a pretty spicy one eventually and lost most of his sense of taste for a while. So he didn’t know how his soup tasted. But it went up to the Commander anyway. Maybe it was not late to say something…

But then he got called to Lexa’s room again. Hell…

“So, you’re not a cook?” she asked and coughed.

“No.” he admitted.

“Sit down.”

Elliot obeyed, but feared what she had to say. The stupid soup even looked horrid.

“You will be my shouna. That means advisor. You will talk to me about your people. And you will not lie to me anymore. Is that understood?”

“Yes. Absolutely! Thank you.”

“Now repeat the word. The word for advisor. If you are to live amongst us you must learn our language.”

“Shouna.”

“Correct.”

After a few more new words were added to Elliot’s vocabulary Lexa went to fetch something in the other room. She returned with a red hot metal bar. She explained to him that he must receive a mark like that to not be considered a slave anymore. It hurt like hell of course, but at least he didn’t have to fear being sold again. The same couldn’t be said for his friends of course. Maybe he could mention them to the Commander in due time.

\---

AZGEDA

“Ban emo we! [Take it away!]” Ontari ordered.

“I’m sorry, I only speak English.”

“The cloak. Pick it up. What is your name?”

Logan took the cloak, but somehow couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. He just mumbled something.

“Your name?! I need something to yell when you’re doing something wrong!” she stepped closer.

“Logan.”

“Fine then, Logan, what clan are you from?”

“I wasn’t part of any clan.”

“Are you, like, frikdreina, or something?” she grabbed his hand and started looking up and down his body. He backed away instinctively.

“I don’t understand what you are talking about.”

“Didn’t your parents teach you about frikdreina?”

“I just… I am not from here… Me and my people landed here. From, you know…” he pointed up.

“Are you saying you came from the sky? That is outrageous! Making fun of the first Natblida like that!” she slapped him, “You will never say anything similar ever again!”

“But I swear! I don’t understand what the big de-”

“Shof op! [Shut up!]” she pushed him towards the door to his little room so hard the door swung open, “Maybe being locked here will teach you respect!”

\---

“Hey, boy!” Cooper was called, “I need you to take these logs and take them where this woman shows you.”

Sounded simple enough. But Cooper had no idea he was being led into the exact building Logan was not long ago. And by the same woman. He ended up in a different bedroom and was instructed to start a fire. Then an old woman entered the room.

“Don’t you know who you’re standing in the presence of? Bow down, if you want to live!” one of the servants following her said. Then he introduced her as the Queen of the Ice Nation. Cooper bowed, but found it ridiculous. These people have been playing medieval dress-up this whole time!

The Queen just ignored him organizing logs and went on with her business. She received a man who wore a dark cloak and spoke about people coming from the sky. When he heard that, Cooper started listening carefully. Guess servants didn’t usually speak English since no one was worried he might be eavesdropping. They spoke about war and apparently someone named Heda.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. Maybe we could make this work in our favor. Maybe we could get these Sky People to fight with us and win over the Coalition.” the Queen said at some point. Cooper may actually have a chance to move up from his current position.

\---

The Assassins really didn’t go easy at first. It’s been a few days of constant strength and endurance exercises, as well as, sparing with other initiates, and Mack, Oliver and Paul were all still standing strong. Mackenzie was actually a pretty quick learner.

Then, came a different kind of test. Each initiate was placed in a room, alone. At least they thought they were alone.

After Mackenzie removed her blindfold she saw a little girl sitting on the floor of the room. She wasn’t crying, but you could see it in her eyes that she was not far from it.

“What’s going on?” Mack asked.

“Kill her! Now!” one of the people that trained her commanded.

“Why?” she suddenly realized there was a knife on the floor.

“Because she failed her training. She is no longer needed. You have to do this. For us! For the Assassins. For your clan!”

Mack grabbed the knife. The little girl shivered in fear. It was a test. And an obvious one at that! She didn’t want to do it, of course, but if she doesn’t, she will end up in the same place as the girl. Mack made her mind and swung to stab the girl in the neck. Unexpectedly, the girl dogged the blade and jumped knocking over Mackenzie and taking her knife.

“She went for it!” the girl yelled and got up. Then Echo walked in an explained the test wasn’t actually what she thought it was. At least she passed… She saw Paul walking over after a few moments. He passed too. Now just-

“Your friend Oliver… He wouldn’t attack the child. I am afraid we had to end his training.” Echo said.

Paul and Mack didn’t see what happened, they just saw a puddle of blood on the floor. They did say that only a third will survive the training.

\---

SANKRU

“I don’t think I can move another muscle.” Cameron said lying on the ground. It was finally their time to rest. They were allowed to stop digging and just lay where their work places were. And the supervisors also threw them some food.

“This is unhuman.” Bailey said, “How can they do this? Wouldn’t it be better if they just killed us instead?”

“I thought so many times before.” the man that helped Felix before crawled over. He introduced himself as Akari. He was very fascinated with their story of living in the sky, but for someone living underground, everything else must be fascinating.

“They tire us out just enough that we can’t fight back, but not so much that we can’t work the next day. Same with the feeding.” he explained.

“How long have you been here?” Russ asked.

“It’s hard to tell without the sun. But since I was fifteen. Around ten years, maybe more.”

“But they told us that by working hard you can earn your freedom back.” James said.

“That may be true in some clans, but not here, my new friends.” Akari went on to tell them his whole life story. The story of how easy it really was to fall into slavery. He spoke about his father, the respected war general, who fled in the middle of a battle never to be seen again. And how after that his mother, brother and him lost the respect of the community and were sold as slaves to draw the father out. But he never showed. He was a coward. Akari’s brother worked in the mines too, but was younger and weaker so he died from exhaustion. And their mother was separated from him so Akari didn’t really know what happened to her.

This was the kind of world they were a part of now.


	8. We Will Rock You

“Let’s hear it.” Roan said, stopping to rest in some shade.

“Ai… gaf dina in. [I need food.]” Madison couldn’t wait to finally stop walking, “Was that good?”

“Yes, but before that, you say…”

“Heda ses ai op.” Madison tried.

“No…” Roan smirked, “Do not say that one. Just don’t. It’s _sen_ , not _ses_.”

“Heda sen ai op. Ai gaf dina en woda in. [The Commander sent me. I need food and water.]”

“Great. That one will get you served anywhere you go. Since no one knows everyone who works for Heda.” Roan drank some water and offered it to Madison next.

“How do I say my name? And where I’m from?”

“You really shouldn’t say that to strangers. It’s a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Because we want them to think you’re some dangerous, mysterious warrior, not a lost girl. Maybe you need an alias of some kind.”

“Like what? Only nickname I ever had was Mads.”

“Well, not that. Something intimidating… Madison. Mad-ison. How about _Swison_? It means _blade_.”

“And how do people call you, Roan? Or is that fake?”

“They usually call me _Sir_ … Or, _my Prince_.”

\---

“It’s really easy. You just go in there and sell them this.” Abriel handed Daisy a weird plant root, “I think you girls are ready for a solo job.”

“What makes you think this will work, again?” Cassia asked.

“It’s simple. We have information that the old man in that house has an old, Sankru-crafted sword that is worth more that this whole village. And it’s people too. And he cannot defend it anymore. But his sons can.”

“Why don’t we just fight them?” Daisy asked.

“We would never take them. They’re the best warriors of the clan. But the oldest has been carrying in a lot of white willow branches which are used to treat fever and pain.”

“One of them is sick!” Claudia figured.

“Yes, someone in that house is dying and you will convince them that this root will save their life.” Abriel handed it to her.

“Will it?”

“No. It’s used to kill people with as little pain as possible. When the sick person takes it you have to get out of there with the sword as fast as you possibly can.”

The girls nodded.

\---

MT. WEATHER

“Here they go!” one person in a cage yelled.

“OK, now!” May said and on her cue, every person started hitting their bars in unison, mimicking the rhythm of the song ‘We Will Rock You’. It was the best May could come up with in just a few days.

All those people, all working together created such a threatening noise, the guards immediately stopped what they were doing and just looked around.

“We are people too! You cannot ignore that for much longer!” May yelled. The two guards just ran, probably to call a superior. And that was exactly what she wanted. Lucky, that everyone agreed to help her do this.

“Now the words! That will really drive them crazy!” she smiled for the first time in a while.

\---

TRIKRU

“So you really don’t know what a Nightblood is?” Aden was baffled after he saw Kim’s reaction to one of his friends bleeding. It was nothing serious, a hit to the nose, but Kim completely freaked out.

“No, I do not.” Kim said and tried to remember the days when she still went to classes. Surely, there was some kind of genetic disorder that could explain this.

“It means we are special.” one girl in training said, “We are the only ones worth of taking the Commander’s spirit and becoming leaders.”

“So you are saying that all of you have – that? And Lexa too?”

“Yes. It means we are the strongest, brightest and bravest of all the people. That we were born to rule over them.” the bleeding boy said.

“It’s a blessing only few have.” Aden added in the end.

\---

That day Elliot has been getting a lot of angry looks from a lot of different people in the tower. More than usual, that is. And he soon found out why that was. His people, the rest of the 100, launched something on a nearby village killing a number of people. Of course, Lexa and Anya have been in the throne room discussing their next move all day. He only arrived to hear the very end of the discussion.

“Fine! You made your point! You may go instead of me.” Lexa said.

“Thank you.” Anya said with a lot of emotion. Elliot felt like he was interrupting something intimate, rather than political.

“I will not disappoint you, Heda.”

“But if it is not safe for me to go, don’t bring Tris either.”

“I won’t. This is serious. So the one I’m to talk to is called Clarke?”

“Yes. She is the most suited for this in my opinion.” Elliot joined the conversation.

“Alright. But I am taking back-up.” Anya glanced over to Elliot, “I do not trust these people.”

“That is fine, Lincoln was being unrealistic. But Anya, give this a fair chance, go easy on them. You know very well that if we fight this war, we will be exposed to attacks from elsewhere.” Heda rose off her throne.

“You mean Nia?”

“I always mean Nia. No doubt she’s heard of this.”

“I will do my best.”

Then Anya bowed and left.

\---

“Those are some of the best spots to attack if your opponent leaves them open. And always use your blade to slash, not stab. It’s quicker and causes more bleeding.” Indra was demonstrating moves on Tris that day since she joined them for training. Today they were informed of the countless ways you could kill another person.

“Now you two try this on each other. With only hands.”

Mason and Tyona obeyed and got into their fighting stances. They have really improved greatly since they first arrived.

Tyona was the first one to touch the back of Mason’s head, winning.

“You need to move your legs more. Way more.” Tris said smiling. She liked teaching someone for a change.

“I… I can’t do this!” he said and ran off.

\---

AZGEDA

“We here in the Assassins do every exercise they do while training to become warriors, but three times harder.” Echo started but was interrupted by a few students cheering. Paul and Mackenzie joined in too. They were starting to get to know the people try trained with and it felt… Felt more like home. Like the classes on the Ark, only more interesting.

“But… But the one we never do is the team work exercise, the trust drill. And why? Because to be an assassin is to be alone. To never trust anyone. You do everything for your clan, not your family, not your friends, not even other assassins, for Azgeda.”

“For Azgeda.” the student repeated.

“While training, soldiers play a team game where the goal of every team is to take the other team’s banner. We are going outside to play a similar game, but with only one banner and only one winner.”

“Echo, they returned from Trikru, there is something you will want to hear.” a man entered the room.

“Anything you have to say to me you can say here.”

“Alright, Trikru is at war with the Sky People. The negotiation went badly.”

“Maybe we should… Talk about it somewhere else.” Echo looked over to Mack and Paul. What the hell was Bellamy doing now?

\---

Logan was beginning to lose hope, when he heard the door to his room unlock. He carefully got up and walked out into Ontari’s room. She was standing there, clothes covered in blood.

“The Queen just received word that a group of people called Skaikru have invaded Trikru territory. They supposedly came from above.”

“I told you, I was telling the-”

“Enough! This does not mean you didn’t lie. Now take those clothes and wash them.”

Logan did exactly what he was told. He’s done laundry before back home, he actually found it relaxing. But these clothes were all covered in blood and some weird black fluid. He was not even gonna think about it. What kind of training did she do?

When he turned around he found Ontari naked from the waist up. He swiftly looked away.

“And wash these too… Is something wrong?” she didn’t see anything weird with what she was doing.

“Perfectly…” Logan almost hit a wall trying not to look at Ontari while exiting, “Fine.”

\---

“Your Majesty?” Cooper spoke to the Queen even though he was specially instructed not to.

“If you have any questions direct them to your supervisor. Don’t let this happen again, slave.” Nia answered not even looking at him properly.

“Excuse me, but I-”

“Didn’t you hear me?!”

“I am one of the Sky People!”

After he said that Nia immediately showed interest. She sat down smirking and invited him to sit too.

“If you were, you’d know what the name of their leader is.”

“We didn’t have a leader when I was there. But… But I’m gonna guess Clarke.” she was the most serious one on the ground besides Elliot.

Nia grinned again and clapped her hands getting the attention of the soldier standing watch in front of her room.

“Drinks! For me and…”

“Cooper. I was thinking I could tell you everything I know about my people.”

“And in return I would…”

“Remove my slave status. And my four friends’ too. They came here with me.”

“If I like what I hear.”

\---

SANKRU

Russ felt incredibly weak, but still had to keep swinging his tool. Suddenly, he swung in the wrong direction and hit JJ’s shoulder. The boy fell to the floor and groaned.

“I’m so sorry, J.” Russ kneeled to help him.

“It’s alright.”

“None of this is alright.” After saying that, Russ hugged him. The only thing making this durable was that he still had James by his side. It would truly be hell if he had to think about where James was every day, and if he was even alive.

Then a supervisor snapped a whip next to the two of them.

“Back to work!”

Felix wanted to see what was happening so he turned, but he tripped and bumped into the supervisor.

“That is it!” the muscular man pushed Felix down on the ground and started whipping him. The others just stood by in shock. He was gonna stop, right?


	9. Chance To Live

The plan worked. No one was more surprised than the three of them: Claudia, Daisy and Cassia. The family had let them into their home and agreed to give them the sword, their most proud possession. Everything was going great until they saw the sick girl. Erwi.  She wasn’t a part of the family, but she was the oldest son’s girlfriend.

Daisy watched as Erwi coughed and shivered while the young man, Ilian, held her hand. She started feeling insanely guilty all of a sudden. They were gonna kill her with that plant and all for a piece of metal that didn’t even look that good.

“How do you give the cure?” Ilian’s mother asked.

“As a tea.” Claudia lied with such ease.

“We have to get out of here.” Cassia whispered to her friends.

“Soon.”

“You hear that? You will be all better soon and right back by my side training for a war.” Ilian kissed Erwi’s forehead and tried to soothe her while his mother made the tea.

Daisy couldn’t watch them anymore, she was sweating from the guilt. But it was a bit late now to be growing a conscience.

The tea was soon ready and Ilian helped Erwi drink it. In a few minutes she felt a lot better. She even looked better and healthier. She felt strong enough to stand up. Ilian thanked the girls and paid them with the sword and some coins he had lying around. Every member of the family thanked them individually and it took a bit of time. Just as they were about to get out of there Erwi suddenly collapsed.

Ilian’s younger brother pointed his sword at Claudia saying none of them leave until this is resolved.

“We can take him.” Cassia said.

“Ilian… Please don’t… Don’t go back to the training; don’t waste your life fighting other people’s battles…” Erwi told him.

“I’ll do anything… I love you… Don’t let go now, you’ve been so strong.” he tried to take her to the bed again.

“If you love me, you’ll stay away from the wars and live. Live for me.”

He leaned in and whispered something to her, but soon she was gone. He just held on to her body and spoke in Trigedasleng. His brother, on the other hand, wanted revenge. He swung for Cassia, but she dodged his blade and he ended up stabbing Claudia. Daisy reacted fast and dragged Cassia away.

They fled the house leaving behind both the sword and Claudia’s body. Later they told Abriel and the gang they didn’t want to travel with them anymore.

\---

“Wait, wait… You’re a Prince?” Madison was immediately interested.

“It’s kind of complicated at the moment.”

“How can it be complicated? Are your parents the King and Queen?”

“They are… Were. Now it’s just my mother. But she banished me from our lands.”

“But it was a misunderstanding, I swear.” he added after seeing the look on her face.

“I guess we have that in common. My people banished me here.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be much longer before you’re back with your friends.” Roan stood up.

“What are you gonna do in Polis?” she asked.

“I don’t know you that well, Swison.”

“I’ll tell you why I got busted on the Ark.”

“I guess it’s fine… I’m a bounty hunter. I get my targets in Polis, I go out to find them and bring them back.”

“Why are you not bringing anyone back now?” Madison had a scary thought, “Or are you bringing me back?”

“You’d know it if I was transporting you…”

\---

MT. WEATHER

The whole chamber full of Grounders in cages was still singing and hitting the bars, letting the whole Mountain know that they cannot be ignored. May thought that if she could just talk to the person in charge, just for a few minutes she could explain how there had to be another way.

But instead of bringing their boss, the guards just decided to let the red knock-out gas into the room. Since May was the one causing all the new problems they decided to drag her out and drain her blood next.

\---

TRIKRU

“No! You can’t attack them! You need to stop this right now!” Elliot said when he was alone in the throne room with Lexa.

“It is already done. Anya got her orders, she is attacking their camp today. I am sorry for your people, but they left me no choice.”

“But they said my people have guns… Guns! You know what that means? They can kill a lot of people, really fast.”

“You just don’t realize how many people are under my rule. Nothing can stand against us.”

“And you don’t seem to realize how many bullets they can have. Hundreds could die!”

“You, need to remember your place, Elliot!” Lexa raised her voice.

“You need to do something. You’re the only one that can.”

“The negotiations didn’t work. What would you have me do?”

“Send me! Let’s go, you and me, right now. We’ll talk to them, we’ll end this, please.”

“I wish we could.”

\---

Indra and Tyona didn’t see where Mason ran off to, but they eventually found him sitting on the top of the Lincoln statue. Right on the president’s shoulder.

“Mason, get down!” Indra wanted all of them to forget this ever happened, but the boy didn’t move an inch.

“Mason, don’t be an idiot!” Tyona yelled and was ready to start climbing when Indra pulled her away.

“I just don’t care anymore! I don’t care if you kill me, like you killed Julia. Everything’s better than becoming a murderer. You just want someone to fight your battles!”

“You speak like I’m trying to turn you into some kind of monster. And I’m not.” Indra said and Mason just looked away, “I’ve taught this to countless children, two of them were my seconds, one my daughter. I don’t do this because I hate you, I do this so that you have a chance to live! Both of you! Anything you have in this life, someone will try to take from you and if you can’t fight, you’ll lose everything! You see, I am not trying to ruin your life, I’m trying to save it!”

Indra’s words had a big impact on Tyona’s view of her situation and on Mason’s too, since he climbed down from the statue and never doubted his training again.

\---

AZGEDA

As Cooper went on and on about the Ark and its people he could see Nia lose her interest in fighting by their side against Trikru and Lexa. I guess she expected more from them than a few teenagers with authority problems. Then she called him useless, which, in his opinion, was unnecessary and sent him to go back to the tree chopping.

As he was making his way through the hallway he saw Logan exiting a room. Could it be Logan?

“Cooper?” It was Logan. They didn’t even know each other that well before, but there was something about their situation that called for a hug.

“Dude, I never thought I’d see you again. Or anyone else. Is someone with you? Oliver? Paul?” Cooper hoped to hear they’re all doing better than him.

“No, haven’t seen anybody yet. How am I just seeing you for the first time, I basically live in this hallway?”

“I work outside. I’m a lumberjack now.” Cooper laughed at the absurdity, “But now I was with the Queen. You know, the old chick with the tiara thing.”

“Then I’m the royal maid, I serve this young girl. She’s… Not very nice…”

The two of them realized they were drawing too much attention to themselves so they went their separate ways.

\---

Logan entered Ontari’s room and found her in there with the Queen.

“I… I am sorry, I can return later.” Logan seemed to have finally figured out these servant manners.

“No, I was just leaving.” the older woman stroked Ontari’s cheek, “Are you satisfied with him?”

“He will suffice.” Ontari said and the Queen left. She called him sufficient. That was… Almost a compliment.

“If you’re a princess, why am I not calling you Your Highness?” Logan asked as he was starting to scrub the floor.

“I am not a princess.”

“But the Queen is your mother?”

“She is not my mother!” she stood up and walked all the way over to where he was kneeling on the floor to yell that.

It seemed like everything he mentioned was a sore spot for her.

 “So where is your mother?” Logan asked, causing Ontari to knock over his bucket of soap and water.

“You have more important things to attend to.”

“Oh, come on! I do everything you tell me without a word. Is it really too much to ask that the only person I am allowed to have contact with talks to me?” Logan was expecting a punch after that.

“She’s dead. And my father too. They’re all dead. I only have Nia. She saved me because I’m a Nightblood.”

“What’s that?”

“My blood is the color of night.”

“Wait, that black stuff? That was your blood?”

“Yes. It is the blood of a leader. But it’s also a curse. Many people tried to take advantage of me because of it, but Nia protects me.”

Logan was just quiet, because he was afraid to ask how she knew that Nia wasn’t the one taking advantage of her.

\---

For this new exercise they were doing, Paul and Mack were given dark cloaks, just like all their trainers wore, and were left in the middle of the forest.

“All you need to do is find a piece of cloth with our clan’s symbol on it and bring it here to me.” That was the instruction they got from Echo. And they spread out in different directions across the forest.

There was more snow then the last time they were out. At first they all had enough strength to run, but after a few hours they were all exhausted and very, very cold.

Mackenzie looked around the treetops hoping to see that damn piece of fabric, but instead she spotted Paul lurking in the canopy.

“You know you can only set a trap for animals and people, not objects?” she teased.

“Very funny. I’m just being smart. I’ve looked everywhere and found nothing. Someone has already found it and I am going to catch them and take it.”

“Wise plan. It only has one flaw.” Mack smirked, “It’s over there!”

She just saw the cloth hanging off a branch not that far from where Paul was sitting. He tried to lean and grab it, but Mack hit it with a rock before he could do anything. The cloth fell and Mack grabbed a hold of it first.

“Give it here!” he climbed down.

“It’s not it.” Mack said, “This is the Trikru symbol. We learned this. It’s a distraction.”

“Good, you found it!” a student named Ada stepped in front of Mackenzie threatening with a knife.

“That’s not what we’re looking for!”

“If you’re so sure, hand it over!” Ada said. Mackenzie wanted to run, but Paul pulled her by her cloak and tore it off her. He got the banner she’s found, but she didn’t seem to care. Her cloak fell in the snow upside down, revealing the Azgeda symbol drawn on the inner side. She grabbed it quickly and started sprinting towards where Echo was waiting for them.

Ada missed the whole thing and was happy to leave with the Trikru banner, but Paul didn’t. He checked his cloak too and then ran right after Mack.

In the end Echo pronounced them joined winners because they got to her at almost exactly the same time. And they were the only ones to get it.

\---

SANKRU

But he didn’t stop. He just kept hitting and hitting him. How was he allowed to do this? Cameron and Bailey were just frozen in fear. James and Russ, on the other hand, shared a look and then both prepared to swing their tools at the maniac supervisor. At that moment Akari pulled them back and shook his head “no”.

The wiping stopped. Felix was dead already. They dragged him out and instructed the rest to keep working. Everyone kept their mouths shut until the break, mostly because they didn’t want to die.

“What is your problem? We would have killed that guy!” Russell pushed Akari.

“When did you become such a coward?” Cameron asked, but immediately regretted saying that.

“Listen to me,” Akari looked around like he was afraid of eavesdropping, “We are going to get out of here, only if we stay together and wait for the right moment.”

“You have a plan?” Bailey asked. This was the first shred of hope any of them were given in a long time.

“We all do. That,” Akari pointed to a little boy, “is Tatin. They take him with them when they deliver the metal because he doesn’t take up much space, but can help them unload. That means that he has weekly contact with the slaves working in forging the weapons. And that… That will be their undoing. We are going to start an uprising. Can we count on you?”


	10. Progress

“You think we did the right thing?” Cassia asked.

“I am sure we did. Abriel was gonna get us killed with his plans.” Daisy was so glad it was just the two of them now. She even though about walking back to the delinquents’ camp. Raya taught them a bit about where they were and how they could find certain places. She was confident they would stumble upon it eventually.

“But what if we can’t go back? If everyone’s gone?”

“Then we survive. But on our turns.”

They soon reached a lake and jumped right in to rest a bit. They didn’t swim so they stayed where the water was shallow, but it was still relaxing. Then Daisy stared into the distance and ran out of the water.

“Madison?” she yelled seeing a familiar face getting water from the lake.

“What are you two doing here?” Mads asked, as first Daisy and then Cassia hugged her like they were the best of friends. They chose to ignore the tall, muddy Grounder she was with.

“We are kind of lost.” Daisy admitted.

“It is so good to see you! Did you see anyone else? May?” Cassia asked.

“Sadly no. You?”

“Claudia. She was with us. Up until she… died.”

“And who is this?” Daisy finally asked.

“This is Roan. He is a Prince. He’s taking me to Polis which is close to our people.” Roan nodded in approval of the Madison’s words.

“I suppose I am taking all of you now?” he sighed.

He went to hunt for something while the girls went right back to soaking in the lake. It was a hot day after all. And Roan really looked like he needed some time to process his new travel plan. Like one childish girl wasn’t enough…

\---

MT. WEATHER

May woke up weak and in a lot of pain. She still had a weird dreaming feeling even though she was wide awake. It took her a while to notice a woman in a lab coat staring at her.

“You’re a doctor…” she managed to say.

“And you’re the trouble maker that had the whole procedure on hold for the day.” the woman started, “If you ever try something like that again…”

“You’ll kill me anyway…”

“I won’t just kill you. There are many worse things that happen to you here and if you continue you will see for yourself.” With that she left leaving May to think about her next move.

\---

TRIKRU

Anya and Tris have been gone for a long time, then the army returned, a bit smaller than before. Tyona and Mason tried not to ask questions, because Indra said they needed to forget about their people and who they were before, but they were interested. Especially because they couldn’t see Tris anywhere.

“There was a bomb on the damn bridge!” was all Anya said to Indra before she marched off into the woods. Indra followed her and her trainees followed too, even though she wanted them to stay and practice.

Anya wasn’t far from the village, hitting a tree trunk with her sword again and again. Tyona even though she saw her crying.

“Stop! You’ll dull the blade!” Indra took her weapon before she completely destroyed it.

“Tris is dead! Dead! And I should have never taken her! She was too young and it’s all my fault! When the Commander heard she called Tristan to replace me. Like I can’t control my emotions.”

“It’s a good thing she did! Look at yourself! That is not how a warrior acts.”

“You’re the one to talk. You lost two seconds and then never picked one again!”

“Having a second wasn’t for me. I didn’t give up fighting!”

“Neither will I.” Anya took out a cut-off braid and a red flower from her pocket and then stared at them for a few seconds, “I want one of them as a second, I can’t start over with a toddler again.”

Tyona and Mason looked at each other.

“We’ll have a match then.” Indra said.

\---

Elliot spent almost all of his time in and around the throne room, but Lexa was surprised to hear that Kim wanted to speak to her.

“If this is about stopping that attack-” Lexa got enough of that from Elliot.

“Aden told me about the three pillars of being a commander. And Elliot tried to appeal to the compassion and the wisdom… I am going for the third.” Kim said.

“Strength?”

“Yes. When our parents come down there are two ways it can go. One, you are at war, and maybe you win, but either way you are left weaker than ever. And you are already suffering loses from just a few teenagers.” Lexa wanted to object but Kim continued anyway, “Two. You have the best possible allies. With them on your side, no one would ever dare to oppose you. You’d get medicine, weapons and knowledge you can’t even imagine.”

\---

AZGEDA

Today for the first time Mack and Paul talked to some other initiates over lunch. They usually stayed away from the two of them since they weren’t Azgeda, but after that game they played in the forest everyone started to accept them. They were both sitting in a group of seven, laughing at a story Ada told when they were called by Echo. Not one of the other trainers. Echo.

“I need a second. Someone who will continue their training while going to battles and collecting information with me. You two may not be the most skilled in the group, but you proved yourself during that game.” she told them.

“So which one do you choose?” Mack asked.

“I would be fine with either one. But I only need ONE second.”

“Do you mean-” Paul tried to ask her, but she walked off. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

“We are not going to try to murder each other, right?” he asked Mack.

“Of course not. We will wait until there’s another game or exercise and decide then.”

“Deal.”

\---

“Get up!” Ontari was the first thing Logan saw when he was forcefully awakened.

“What am I doing today, Your Highness?”

“Still not a princess. And you’re gonna help me train.”

“I never fought anyone in my entire life. Not for real.”

She didn’t answer but walked out and started stretching her arms. Oh, heavens… At first he just held a few boards up so she could try and hit them.

“How do you do that?” he asked.

“What?”

“That swirly, jump-kick thing?”

“That is not for beginners. I only learned it when I was ten.”

“You were this awesome when you were ten? Good… At… Fighting, I meant.”

She was turned around, but Logan could swear he saw her smile.

“You want me to teach you a few moves? Might be good if I had an actual opponent.” she started looking for something.

“I don’t think I’d be very good.”

“Here,” she handed him a nice-looking dagger, “Nia gave it to me while she was training me. It is very valuable. But you should have it in case you need to defend yourself.”

He wanted to ask how exactly would he need to defend himself when he didn’t even leave this room that much, or if a slave can even have property, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment.

Ontari went on and on about why that dagger was so good, and ended up showing him a few moves. Finally, Logan found something she did want to talk about.

\---

Cooper didn’t like being back to chopping trees after seeing how good it was inside with a fire. Logan. That guy had it easier. Cooper felt a little off all morning, but didn’t think much of it until he suddenly collapsed. The last thing he remembered were people coming to check if he’s OK and then just black.

He woke up again in what seemed to be the Grounder version of a hospital. The man treating hit told him to just lay back and made him swallow some herbs. Guess he knew what he was talking about.

\---

SANKRU

“There’s more of us than there is of the supervisors, so let’s say we could take them all if we tried. But what would happen? Others would come soon and in large numbers. What we need is riots, all across the clan. The people at the forgery have been saving weapons, and they have regular contacts with the slaves working for the King.” Akari continued explaining.

“The King?” Bailey asked.

“King Ellic, worst of the worst. His ancestors had slaves too, but he took it to a whole new level. His tower is full of slaves from the cooks to his whores. Only people he really does pay and respect are in his army.”

“But aren’t there more of us?” James asked.

“Yeah, but we have no training and limited weapons. That’s what he’s counting on. But all we need to do is wait. Wait for his army, or part of it, to leave Sankru. And then make our move.”


	11. And now me

“So you were with Abriel?” Roan took out a drawing and showed it to the girls, “This man, right here?”

Cassia and Daisy nodded. They got the nose a bit wrong on the drawing, but he was recognizable.

“Can’t believe it! I have been chasing that bastard for years. Always disappears just out of my reach.” he continued, “You were lucky you got away alive. You’ve seen nothing of him. He has countless bandit groups all over these lands. And he’s always moving, always recruiting… And he also has a nasty habit of killing good, honorable warriors and their innocent families.”

“Well, at least you’re with us now. You’re safe.” Madison said.

Daisy didn’t like what Roan was saying. She was with Abriel’s group for some time, they never just cold-bloodedly killed someone. Roan was probably one of the Privileged, that’s why he had a problem with him.

\---

MT.WEATHER

May began laying low. She made no noise. Didn’t converse with the other people. It felt like giving up, like giving up on life itself. But none of it mattered since she was knocked out once more and taken away. She woke up in the office of the doctor she talked to before. Dr. Tsing it said on her tag, now she saw.

“What do you want with me?” May tried to get up but realized she was tied to a chair. Well, in reality it was an improvement on her previous accommodations.

“I want you to help me.”

“And why would I do that? You clearly have no intention of letting me go!”

“You came from the space station, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“Well if you did, then these are your friends.” the doctor turned around a computer screen covered in photos of the delinquents’ camp, “And they got themselves into a war with the Outsiders. We could save them.”

“By draining their blood until they die and then discarding of them like trash? They’re better off out there!”

“Listen. We could protect them. Really protect them. But we can’t do that without knowing about the people still in space. Are they coming down? How many are there? We don’t have unlimited room.”

“Rot… in… hell!” after saying that May started kicking around trying to get free so they sedated her again.

\---

TRIKRU

Kim actually felt like she made a difference talking to the Commander. She didn’t know what Elliot was complaining about. It was so easy. She went from the throne room straight to the Nightbloods’ quarters to pick up all their equipment. There, stood a bold man waiting for her.

“You… You have no idea what you are doing.” he said.

“Excuse me?” she was confused. Heda introduced him once. His name was Titus, but he never spoke to her before.

“You think you understand this world, but you know nothing. You just push your own agenda, not thinking, not caring what happens…”

“Look, dude, I really don’t-”

“You will get her killed. And then, then you will see suffering. Then you will see savage. Without Lexa as Commander we are all lost.” he drew out a dagger.

Kim tried to apologize or just convince him to let her go, but he was too quick. He stabbed her once, but it was enough. She fell to the floor and he discreetly took care of her body. Lexa and Elliot were told she escaped. And Elliot was hurt, felt betrayed, as did all the Nightbloods that were starting to like her.

\---

“Easy now. Just like we practiced.” Indra instructed and gave the cue to start the match.

Tyona and Mason were both under a lot of pressure since they were viewed not only by Anya and Indra, but by anyone in the village who had nothing better to do at the moment.

Tyona struck first. She really wanted it bad. But Mason dodged and pushed her away. They were specifically forbidden from seriously hurting each other so the only thing that could stop this match was if someone forfeited or Indra sounded the end.

Mason was beginning to regret his decision to choose an axe as his weapon. He just felt most comfortable using one, but Tyona seemed pretty sure of herself with her sword. Soon she knocked the weapon right out of his hand.

“Wake up, Mason!” Indra yelled snapping him out of a trance. He was just thinking too much. Not feeling the flow of the match. Tyona swung again, but this time her sword dug firmly into the ground. Mason used the opportunity and punched her right in the face. The hit was powerful, powerful enough to knock the girl down. Next, Mason took the sword and pointed it at his friend.

“Forfeit.” Mason said.

“No!” Tyona refused even with the sword inches from her face. Mason made a small cut across her cheek.

“It is done. Tyona, he would have killed you if it was for real.” Indra called it. Mason helped Tyona get up, but she was rather angry and wanted to be alone.

Anya welcomed Mason as her second with a brand that removed his slave status. The burning mark covering his tattoo almost exactly matched hers. Seeing how upset Tyona was, Indra branded her too, freeing her from slavery. There was no way she was going to run away now, she was committed to becoming a warrior.

\---

AZGEDA

Every night since they got there, Paul and Mack went to sleep at the same time, their cots one next to the other. But tonight they both found a reason not to go to sleep, Paul said he would like to wash his cloak since it was covered in blood from the day’s training and Mackenzie said she would like to work on her stamina by running a few laps outside.

Echo was walking around when she say light in one of the rooms so she went to inspect it and found Paul removing the threads from his cloak and banding them together.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I am forming something strong enough to strangle Mack with.” he said deciding to go with blunt honesty.

“In that case you will need just a few more threads. Otherwise it may break. Carry on.” she closed the door. Yeah, this place was crazy…

Echo went to check on the room where the trainees slept. Mack’s bed appeared to be occupied. But Echo knew better. She pushed the door a little bit wider open and heard a muffled “ow”.

“The bumps on the bed are good, but your shadow is showing.” she advised Mack and closed the door.

Soon Paul finished his creation and made it to the room to find his competition. He got to the bed and soon realized it was nothing there but some rolled up clothes. Then he felt a sharp pain in his leg and fell down. Mack was hiding under the bed and swiftly crawled out to pin Paul down. She had a knife so there was nothing he could do.

“Yu gonplei ste odon.” Mackenzie said just like Echo taught her. All she had to do now was return the knife to Logan. Guess it was luck she ran into him and Paul didn’t. And he was kind of sensitive about that thing for some reason.

Come morning, everyone saw what happened and Echo prepared a short ceremony to welcome Mackenzie to the Assassins as her second. This process, of course, included losing her slave mark. Echo took a metal bar used for branding, and burned the symbol of Azgeda into Mack’s skin over the slave mark. She was free.

“You will be getting a room in our part of the compound now.” Echo said to her after.

“I thought I wasn’t a full member until I kill you.”

“Well, that one’s a bit exaggerated. I just use it on new recruits to scare them a bit.” Echo smirked, “Thought you should know now, so that we don’t have a problem.”

“And the cut on the neck? On the first day?”

“Did that myself. Had to be believable.”

\---

SANKRU

“I have something for you. Something we found in an old vehicle.” Akari said during one of the breaks and dug out a gun, “Am I wrong, or can you use such a thing?”

“Oh, we can use it.” Bailey took it and tried to see if it was loaded. It was, but with just a few bullets. Not nearly what they needed to do their part for the rebellion.

“Who shall use it? Russ, you’re an engineer.” Cameron took it from Bailey and handed it to Russell.

“No, no. I can check if it works, and all, but wires and circuits, that’s my thing. This, no.” Russ emptied it again and checked for any sign of a malfunction.

“It should be me. I’ll shoot.” James looked to his boyfriend, “I’m motivated, I know I can do it.”

“You’re not the only one that has someone to protect.” Cameron looked at Bailey.

“Are we forgetting I’m the only one who’s actually killed someone before, boys? We can’t have one of you heroes chocking when Akari says it’s time.”

“Why don’t you just do it? We’ll explain it to you.” Russ tried to hand the gun back to Akari.

“Because… It has to be one of you. Only then will the people listen. We have the numbers and the plan, now the people only need some bravery. And you came from the sky. You made everyone believe anything was possible. They all think you came down here for a reason. To set us all free.” Akari explained, “That’s why you have to shoot.”

“I only said I can shoot a man. I never agreed to be someone’s messiah.” Bailey said.

“Then I’ll do it.” James took the gun, “Moses, Spartacus and now, me.”


	12. Seperated

“I know that look. What are you thinking?” Daisy asked Cassia when they were alone.

“I’m just remembering what Abriel told us about Polis.”

“So you’re not buying the Prince’s story either?”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth. Abriel said that Polis is heaven for robbers, because it is full of gullible drunks who have so much and don’t even appreciate it.”

“I remember now. They all feel so secure because of the Commander’s presence, but in truth it’s a big city.”

“So are you in?” Cassia put out her hand.

“For a little trouble? Always.” Daisy shook it.

“So we get to Polis and then go raise hell?”

“Like hell you do!” Madison walked over from the tree line. She was helping Roan hunt, but felt bad for leaving them out.

“Listen, we can explain…” Cassia started.

“Oh, I would love to hear it.” Madison drew out her sword.

\---

TRIKRU

“I need to ask something of you, Elliot.” Lexa brought him some kind of ribbon.

“Yes, Heda? Anything you need.”

“Since most of the people I can trust are off fighting with Tristan and Anya, I need someone to run my affairs around the city. You’d be like a messenger of sort. You think you can handle it?”

Elliot thought long and hard. Being a secretary? Not really his style. But being a secretary for the most important person in this world. And more importantly, for a person that he was beginning to trust. She really seemed to have good intentions.

“I will do my best, Heda.” Elliot bowed after Lexa tied the ribbon so that it went over his shoulder and under his arm.

“Now I need you to go entertain some Chiefs who are a bit worried about the war. En yu souda hola Trigedasleng au. Kei? [And you should speak Trigedasleng. Okey?]”

“Sha, Heda. [Yes, Commander.]”

\---

“Sulking never solved anything.” Indra said, finding Tyona sitting on the ground ripping petals of flowers. The girl didn’t respond.

“This is really poor use of your free time.” Indra added.

“I would rather be going to the war, but yet… I lost.”

“Look, when you become a warrior, and you will, you will see plenty wars. Believe me, more than you’ll like, so how about you just take this time to enjoy this place.”

Tyona never thought she’d hear those words coming from Indra.

“So what do you suggest?” the girl asked.

“I am a leader, Tyona. And I learned too late that it is important to know about the people you have to lead. So walk around. Talk to them. Learn from them.”

Tyona nodded and took it as a new task. As a challenge.

Mason stood not far from there with his new master.

“There is only one question left to ask.” Anya started, “Mason, as my second you should accompany me to all battles and I have orders to take part in an attack against you people’s camp. But these are special circumstances so you have a choice. It is entirely up to you. Do you want to go fight them with me or not?”

\---

AZGEDA

Logan was alone, practicing with his new dagger, mostly trying not to knock over any of the furniture when Ontari walked in. It took him a few seconds to realize she was bleeding. Bleeding… all over her face. Her scars were all somehow open again and blood was literally dripping from the tip of her chin. It was indeed a scary sight.

“What happened? Are you alright?” Logan tried to help but she just ignored him. She sat on the bed and shifted her shirt enough to reveal her shoulder.

“That is… Swollen. What happened? How can we fix it?” he wasn’t letting up with the questions.

“I lost a match today! I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed the blood and I embarrassed my Queen.”

“Who did you fight?” Logan tried to examine the shoulder, but just caused her to flinch in pain.

“Covan, Codrin and Aiken. They’re from the royal guard…”

“You fought three guys and survived?”

“No! I failed! That’s what I did! And now, I’m being punished. So you are not mine anymore, you’re being transferred to the kitchens, you should leave immediately.”

“I am not leaving until we get you fixed up.”

“It’s just a dislocated shoulder. I’ve learned how to fix it by myself long ago!”

“Well, you shouldn’t have had to! I can help, just tell me what to do.”

Logan looked more self-assured than she’d even seen him, so she showed him how to readjust her shoulder. Later he brought her water to wash her face.

\---

The next day Echo took Mack to for a lengthy walk around the area. They’ve seen where the royal family lives, where the army trains, a couple villages and now they were at the market. It was the most joyful place in all of Azgeda, as far as Mack has seen, anyway.

“Here is where all of the traders from other clans bring their merchandise. It is one of the most important places in Azgeda, since, as you can see, we don’t grow much food.” Echo took some snow into her hand and then let it fall again. Mack tried to stay in the moment and not think about the time she came here as merchandise. But it was like the place changed since then. She never noticed all the people selling food and colorful fabrics, the people selling wooden toys or instruments…

They passed a fruit stand and Mack couldn’t help but stare at the oranges. They looked so good, she just lost track of what she was doing before.

“Would the kind lady want an orange?” the man selling asked. Mack looked at Echo like she was a five-year-old looking for permission from mom.

“He’s asking you.” Echo smiled, “Take one.”

Mack grabbed the fruit, “Don’t I have to like pay for it?”

“Oh, no… You Assassins protect all of us. I couldn’t possibly ask you for anything else.” the man said.

Mack continued walking with Echo, but still felt a bit weird. Guess she wasn’t used to generosity.

“You’re an assassin now. You need to act like it.” Echo started, “No one besides the Queen can tell you what to do anymore. Not even me, I am here only to advise you. All of this, the land, the trees, the people, their things, that’s all yours now. You can ask them for anything and it is yours.”

Mack spoon around slowly, taking it all in.

“We in the Assassins realized long ago that rules make men want to break them. Fight them. But having everything you could want available… That’s when men surprise even themselves and take only what they need.”

“Sounds too good to be true.” Mack said as it started to snow a bit.

“That’s what you worked for. Now, I have a special assignment from the Queen and have to ride south. Can I count on you to give the opening speech to new recruits?”

“I can manage.” After that they said goodbye and went their separate ways. Echo turned around shortly after and saw Mack making a small cut on her neck. Well, she did learn from the best.

\---

“Up now and off to work.” Cooper was woken up. These last few days in bed have not been bad. He hated going in the cold again.

“You got new clothes, they’re over there. And this is for the frostbite.” the man handed him some kind of ointment, “Frostbite reduces productivity. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

Cooper just politely nodded and after changing went into the hall. His first idea was to go find Logan. He  wanted to talk to him even for a little while before he got back to that frozen hell outside.

\---

SANKRU

“OK, what is up with you today?” Cameron tapped Bailey’s shoulder.

“Have you forgotten we are not back on the Ark? Do you want a beating?” she snapped at him.

“We both know the blond guy is watching us today. And he never pays attention.”

“You really want to know? I don’t want you protecting me or acting reckless because you want to help me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said you had someone to protect, but you don’t.”

“Me? You’re the one grabbing for that gun from the start.”

“That’s different. I was just being practical.”

“The truth is Bailey, you mean a lot to me. But so do Russ and JJ. We might have not liked each other up there, but down here you three are my family. That’s true, even if you choose not to talk to me.”

“You’re irreparable, you know that?” Bailey glanced over to the supervisor and figured she could sneak one quick kiss. She went for it put didn’t estimate correctly how long it would last. Cameron got hit with a whip. Just as he thought he was gonna end up like Felix, Akari jumped and punched the supervisor.

“If you’re a man, drop that whip and fight me!” Akari yelled. The supervisor put the weapon at his side and started hitting with his fists instead. Akari gave up rather easily.

“Since you’re so tough, you will be transferred to the arenas. Maybe we get a laugh or two out of you there.” the supervisor said while he bound Akari.


	13. Slave

“You need to calm down, Maddy.” Daisy said, raising her hands like she was at gunpoint.

“You… You are not welcome with us! Go away! Go screw over someone else!” Madison was quite pissed and wasn’t putting down the sword.

“What is happening?” Roan walked over and drew out his sword, “Why are we pointing our weapons at them, Swison?”

“Because they’re traitors! They only want to go steal in Polis!”

“Why do you suddenly care so much about them?” Cassia drew out her sword as well. Her and Madison clashed their blades a few times before Maddy delivered a pretty painful kick when they got close enough. Roan smiled since he taught her that.

“I just care. Now go in the opposite direction and never return.” Madison said while Cassia lied on the ground. She let them both leave and then sat on the ground and started crying.

Roan was never good with crying. More specifically with making it stop. So he just sat next to her and waited, saying nothing. He got it. They were her friends. She trusted them and they changed. This world changed them. And it sucked, but there was nothing he could do about it.

“You know, I never got that warrior’s second thing.” Roan said, “Having a little kid following you around all the time. Who’d want that? But I kind of enjoyed seeing you take down those bandits. I could almost say it made me proud, so even though I promised to return you to your people, I was wondering if you’d consider sticking with me for a while. I know I don’t fight wars, but still counts as a second, right?”

“You want me to catch bad guys with you?” Madison asked.

“You could say it like that.”

“Screw my people, I’m in.”

“I was saving this for when we parted ways, but since there’s a change of plan…” Roan took out a metal Azgeda symbol out of his bag, “It’s my mother’s and can be used for lots of things, including removing slave marks.”

They started a fire and soon Madison was officially a free person again.

\---

TRIKRU

“I’ll go with you. I’m sure.” Mason told Anya.

“Alright, Sky Boy.” she was surprised but decided to respect his wish, “We should get you painted, then.”

Anya drew a simple design on his face with a dark brownish color.

“Does it mean anything?” Mason asked, not being able to stand the long silence.

“It indicates your clan. But it is also your shield. It defends you from fear and doubt, guilt or regret. It gives you the strength you need to be a warrior.”

Mason couldn’t believe they gave such meaning to such an unimportant thing and his face showed it.

“Well, not really,” Anya sighed, “It’s just something you’re supposed to say to your seconds. You’re supposed to tell them to stop crying before you put it on, and that they won’t be afraid when you’re done. And it works. If you say it enough times, it helps them, even when they’re older, with what they have to see and do in battle. Because you can just wash it off when you return. But you’re much too old for that.”

“No, I get it.” and he did. It was like a promise that the horrible things you do in war won’t cross over into the other parts of your life.

After finally looking like a proper Grounder, Mason said goodbye to Indra and Tyona. His delinquent friend was not allowed to go, but she did surprise him with a hug and whisper: “Kick their asses for me.” into his ear. The warrior leading the attack was named Tristan and he was always around Mason and Anya saying some annoying thing or other. They also brought Murphy with them, since he gave them lots of intel on the 100’s camp. Guess him and Tyona weren’t the only treaters. When they were close they started sounding the war drums, which only made Mason feel more confident about what he was about to do.

“So what is our plan of action? The boy said they found a lot of guns and intend on using them.” Anya turned to Tristan.

“Our plan is to attack. Some will die, others will get through.” he answered and was ready to wave his hand to start the attack.

“Mason, you know these people, what should we do?” Anya asked.

“I will not be ordered around by the Sky Boy, he should be lucky he is with us at all.” Tristan snapped at her.

“Listen to me, Lexa might have given you command, but that does not give you the right to insult my second!” Anya stepped really close to the other warrior like she was threatening, “He is a warrior and the most qualified person to be suggesting strategies right now!”

After that Tristan finally shut his mouth and listened to Mason’s idea of first running to make the enemy waste bullets. Before they attacked the main gate, Anya explained to her second how real battle was a lot different from the combat Indra taught him. It was more quick and chaotic and everything but fair. And he got to experience that when the Reapers came. He didn’t even know what they were before they just showed up behind them. He tried to stay close to Anya as he slashed with his sword anything that was moving. Just as he thought he was getting good, someone hit him on the head. He fell down unconscious. Anya saw this and, after realizing he was still alive, dragged him away from the fighting and left him to lie in a bush until he woke up. But that was the only part of the battle he saw.

\---

Elliot was running around all morning getting yelled at by this clan leader, or the other. On the plus side his Trigedasleng vocabulary has expanded greatly, mostly to insults and curse words. After all, here are only a limited number of times before a man can be called _branwoda_ until he wishes he could take it out on someone.

Last night everyone saw the Ark coming down from the sky, but everyone was curiously quiet about it. No emergency meetings, not urgent messages, just a whole lot of uncertainty. Everyone was feeling it.

And the Commander. She was in her throne room all day, trying to wrap her head around losing that battle with the Sky People. Elliot knew her mentor Anya was there and that she hadn’t returned yet. But he didn’t think it would hit her that hard. She didn’t even let that weird guy, Titus talk to her.

When Elliot finally got a second to ask about how they will deal with the rest of the people from the Ark, he didn’t exactly get the answer he wanted.

“I will banish them! All of them! I want them off my land.”

“Do you mean me too, Heda?” Elliot asked. Trying to remember the maps she’d showed him and thinking where he would go.

“You can leave if you wish to, but you have been a great help and I will not make you.”

\---

AZGEDA

Cooper was happy to find Logan in almost the exact same place, this time carrying a huge jug of water.

“Dude! I’ve got great news, I survived the outbreak! I’m cured!” Cooper started.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Logan was just in a big hurry to get back to Ontari and her wounds. It was kind of an emergency, but he didn’t feel like explaining that now.

“The disease. Like, most of the slaves have it. A bunch of slavers too. That’s why there’s no one guarding me now.”

“That’s why I’m gonna escape now.” Cooper added. Logan didn’t even think about that for a while now. He didn’t even consider it a possibility.

“You’re gonna get caught.” Logan said.

“You should come with me. We’ll be fine, trust me.” Cooper expected him to be grateful. Not this.

“Sorry, dude. I can’t. Not right now.” Logan walked away.

Copper felt a bit bad, but still went on with his plan. He did make it pretty far from where he usually worked, but he was shot running from the settlement.

\---

Logan realized someone reopened Ontari’s face scars as she cleaned most of the blood.

“It’s my punishment,” she said seeing him staring, “It’s always been my punishment. Every time I disappoint my Queen she cuts these symbols into my face.”

“She did this to you?”

“I deserve it. She rewarded me with this room and you… You know, this used to be her room and I slept in there,” Ontari pointed at his room, “Slept on that floor most of my life and now I’m going back. Maybe it’s for the best, serving her I’m good at.”

“I don’t get it! Why does that woman do that to you? Why do you let her? I can’t escape, but you, you could just kill her.”

“Because she saved-”

“Don’t give me that! For real, why?” Logan sat by her on the bed.

“Because she needs me to get the Commander’s throne! That’s what I’m good for! That’s all that I’m good for.”

“Ontari, don’t say things like th-”

“Oh, you don’t know anything about me! What she did to me! When you look at your reflection, what do you see? You see yourself, who you were, who you could be… You know what I see? Nothing but these scars, and that’s why she made them. So that neither me nor anyone else can look past them, ever. So that I don’t see who I am, I just see what she made me.”

Logan was quiet for a few moments and then blurted out: “You’re a slave.”

Ontari didn’t answer, only stared at him. It was a great realization for him. He finally felt like he got it. Ontari. All of her. Her every action, her every word, it just all fit. He wanted to say something, but there was so much to say so he just closed the gap between them and kissed her. He still expected to get punched, but to his great surprise Ontari kissed him back, but only for a moment. When she pulled away he could see tears streaming down her face. Damn, should he have done that? She clearly wanted to say something, but couldn’t, so she just stormed out. He waited for her to get back, but it didn’t look like she would, so he just left for his new job.

\---

SANKRU

After taking Akari the two supervisors didn’t feel like they’ve done enough yet.

“What do you think, should we separate them?” One of them said about Cameron and Bailey.

“Yeah, I want her in the arena. She’s got more fight in her than the rest of them combined.”

With that they also tied Bailey up and started dragging her away. She fought a bit more than Akari. Cameron thought about fighting back. About starting the uprising now, but then he saw Akari shake his head “no”. This was not the time. If he went through with it he would have ruined their plan. As much as it pained him, he had to wait.

The whole way to the fighting arena Bailey kicked and screamed. Akari tried to tell her to calm down, but she just wouldn’t listen to him. After crossing roughly half the distance from the mines one of the supervisors lost his nerve and just snapped Bailey’s neck.

Back in the mines, everyone had a break, but they were all still shaken by losing Akari. He was the one that did all the planning. Without him everyone thought they were never going to free themselves. JJ and Russ tried to convince Cameron Bailey was going to be fine, but he was still just sitting there frozen in thought.

“Should we say something to them?” Russ asked seeing all the other slaves looking more lost than ever.

“What would we even say?” James usually wasn’t much for speeches.

“My friends,” Cameron suddenly stood up, “Do not despair. Akari was an inspiration to all of us, and now, we must carry on his fight. His plan.”

“He wanted us to be the ones to lead you into this, and now, he got his wish.” James joined, “The three of us will continue where he left off, if you all agree. And we promise you that when we are done we will all be free as well as Akari, Bailey and every person in Sankru.”

The slaves were thrilled about what they were just promised, the only one pissed was Russell.

“Do you two even think before you promise things? We don’t know enough to say for sure this will work. We need to have good timing.” he whispered.

“And we will wait for it.” James said.

“Then we need to be ready so that we don’t miss an opportunity. We need to be Akari from now on. I will handle the communication with the other slaves, James, you will plan what we do after we get out of the mines, and Cam… You are in charge of inspirational speeches.”

\---

MT. WEATHER

“That’s just my life! Of all the people I could be stuck in hell with, it’s you!”

May woke up to the screaming of the new prisoner in the cage under her. Then she remembered her as the woman who sold them, Anya.

“Like I’m happy with this! Don’t talk to me!” May heard another new voice coming from a woman in the cage opposite her. She didn’t know her name was Echo.

Echo spit, aiming at Anya, but hit May.

“OK! What is happening? Do you want to provoke them? You will only get yourself killed faster!” May screamed.

“I wish they’d just kill me! This is degrading.” Echo said.

“I hope I’m still here to watch!” Anya hit her cage.

“What is it with you two? Is it more of that different clans dispute?” May asked. She’d seen quite a few of that since she’s been locked up with the Grounders.

“Disha stringboba trana frag ai op! [This puppet tried to kill me!]” Anya said to May, this time.

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak your language. I’m one of the people that came here from space. I was before you sold me into slavery!” May thought she hated this woman. But now she was in the same horrible situation as her.

“A Sky Person? Do you know Mackenzie? She is my second. A fine warrior. And this one is just mad because the Queen had me kill her a few years back. And I stopped trying as soon as the Queen called it off.” Echo explained.

“Am I supposed to thank you now? You have no honor! You’re a puppet for the Queen!” Anya seemed to really hate her.

“You were screwing her son! What was she supposed to do?”

“It was ten years ago! How is she still thinking about that?” Anya’s words were followed by mumbling in Trigedasleng.

“I understand that there’s history between you two,” May tried to calm them down before they were punished, “But you need to get over that because these people are-”

May stopped as soon as a guard entered the room. He must have heard shouting. But of course, he chose to grab May and not the other two. But then he just let her walk around free.

“What is happening?” May asked.

“She asked me to kill you. The Doctor. I don’t think that’s necessary. So I’m letting you go. You’re not gonna come back asking for trouble, are you?” the guard asked an opened a door. May just agreed by nodding and he led her through the door. She could still hear Anya and Echo yelling after her.


	14. Free Yourselves

TRIKRU

“How dare they! There has been no engagement and then they send an assassin into one of our villages!” Lexa was mad and rightfully so. There was no denying it, the new people wanted war. The witnesses said 18 were killed. That was unforgivable, Elliot knew.

He and Lexa have been doing a bit of traveling. She decided to give her people some more direct support. She even interrogated some prisoners herself. Elliot couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw old Councilor Kane. From him Elliot found out a lot of people he knew were still alive. But, knowing Lexa and what they’ve been doing, they wouldn’t stay alive for long.

It was funny how he found himself in a situation where both sides were the wrong one for him.

\---

After the battle, Mason woke up back in TonDC. He was one of the few warriors that haven’t been burned to death or taken by the Mountain Men. Although, he wasn’t proud of how he did it. And Anya, there was no sign of her. Just as Mason was starting to like her he was without a master once more. He continued his training with Indra and Tyona, not speaking much about what happened that day.

Soon they were called upon by the Commander to surround the new camp of the Sky People. On their route through the woods they saw a familiar person running like all hell was chasing her.

“May?” Tyona couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Tyona? Mason?” May barely recognized her friends from all the war paint they were wearing. She was kind of surprised everyone accepted the Grounder life so quickly.

“What are you doing here? Didn’t you go to Sankru? What are you running from?” Mason asked.

“The Mountain… They… I was there all this time.” May grabbed the water Tyona was carrying and started drinking. She has been out there, trying to find someone for a while.

“Nonsense! No one escapes the Mountain!” Indra dismissed May’s story.

“I didn’t escape. They let me go.” May joined them and the unit started walking again. Mason and Tyona filled their friend in on everything she’d missed. She asked about Madison and the others who were with her, but none of them turned up yet.

\---

“What the hell happened to you?” May asked when she first saw Elliot with his red ribbon. Him and Tyona and Mason were so happy to see each other, hugging and showing off their wrists with the Trikru brands.

May looked at her hand and her slave mark was still dark and very visible.

“I’ll take care of that, if you want. I’ll talk to Lexa. I’m the Commander’s advisor. I can do that now.” Elliot smirked, “As soon as she’s done with Clarke.”

“You saw Clarke?” Tyona was surprised.

“Yeah, but she didn’t see me. Heda wants to intimidate her and she doesn’t need me there for that. As far as I’ve heard Clarke is making her some kind of offer concerning the Mountain.” Elliot explained.

“The Mountain? You need to get me in there to talk to them!” May realized, “I was there the whole time, maybe I can give them something useful.”

May thought she was mad at those people for complying to the Grounders, but if they were fighting the Mountain, the people that took her, she was gonna help.

\---

“Here it is! The capitol.” Roan said as soon as they stepped onto the main square.

“Polis.” Madison whispered to herself. She couldn’t contain her excitement caused by that place. It was filled with so many people, all of them doing something different. And the tower was so… Big and powerful.

“Just don’t run off somewhere,” Roan said seeing the look on her face, “Are you ready to meet the woman who rules everything you’ve seen so far?”

Madison nodded. She really felt ready. Both she and Roan were wearing cloaks as disguise, but he promised they could take them off when they got to the tower.

“Watch where you’re going,” a man bumped into Roan, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

“I doubt it.” Roan just turned and resumed walking. He was leading Madison to one of the back entrances when the man from before got in their way.

“I remember you.” he took off Roan’s hood, “Azgeda Hainofa. [The Azgeda Prince.] Your mother is a bitch!”

“I know.” Roan said.

“We lost good men because of her. Friends. She’s a monster!” another few guys walked out of nowhere.

“Again, no argument here.” Roan turned to his second.” Swison, run! Run to the tower!”

\---

AZGEDA

It is not every day that you wake up with the Queen staring at you. At least that’s what Mackenzie thought. She’s only had this new position for a few days. She just went ahead and pretended it was normal. She got out of the bed, bowed and asked what kind of service she could provide.

“Echo is not back yet. So, as her second, her responsibilities fall to you. There are rumors the Commander has surrounded the new camp of the Sky People. I need you to ride there, gather information and report back to me. You are not to interact with anyone. Is that clear?”

“Yes, my Queen.” Mack said and went to collect her things for the journey immediately.

Nia stopped another assassin in the hall and ordered him to follow Mack without her knowing it. Nia was cautious since underneath it all, those were still Mack’s people.

\---

SANKRU

That perfect timing they needed. It was here. King Ellic’s army or most of it anyway, left Sankru to go help the Commander scare off the Sky People. And the King didn’t leave with them. He sent his little sister Gem with the army and stayed behind, because, ironically, he didn’t think Skaikru was such a threat. After learning that, it was easy to orchestrate Akari’s rebellion.

James took a deep breath. He was holding the gun behind his back and just preparing himself for what came next. After he pulled that trigger nothing would ever be the same. Somehow he found the strength to extend his arm and shoot at the biggest supervisor there. One bullet and the man fell down. The sound was deafening.

“Breik yo au! [Free yourselves!]” James yelled and then every slave there started attacking the remaining masters. Hitting them with the pickaxes, taking their whips and wiping them or just using hands and feet. Some were even strangled with their whips. It was a horrific sight, but no rebellion ever was pretty. James ran out of the mines, seeing the sun for the first time in a long time, and shot supervisors sitting on a cart. It was supposed to go to the forge, the place where the metal was melted and made into weapons. And it will.

Cameron and Russell stayed inside until the very end. Until the last slaver stopped moving. Then they exited covered in blood.

“Come on, Cam. You and I are going to the arena to rescue Bailey and Akari!” Russ took one of the dead people’s swords.

“Don’t you wanna go with James to the forgery?” Cameron asked. Then Russ and JJ shared a look. They’ve talked about this and decided it’s best if they split up today. If Cam went to the arena alone and didn’t find Bailey the whole operation would be in danger. That’s why one of them had to go with him. Optimism was a luxury they couldn’t afford right now.

“No, I wanna go with you!” Russ answered.

James took half the people with him on the cart while the other half went with Russ and Cam to the arena on foot.

The riot at the forge has already started so they had no problem driving in. James finally met the people he’s been sending so many messages to. They showed him all the weapons they have managed to save up over the years. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. James felt like a speech was in order, but before he could start they were attacked. The forge wasn’t free of slavers yet. But in a few hours of fighting it was.

The other group met much less resistance around the arena. They had a bit of trouble locating where the prisoners were being held, but eventually they found an underground prison. Cam used his pickaxe to open it and was happy to see Akari smiling at him from down there.

“I knew… I knew you’d come through, Sky People.” he said as he climbed out to freedom.

“We just needed to be shown the way.” Russ hugged Akari.

“Where’s Bailey?” Cam asked after seeing she wasn’t in the prison.

“She’s gone, I’m sorry. I saw it with my own eyes. I could do nothing.”

Cam didn’t respond, but started waving his weapon around in rage. They offered him to stay, but he refused. All three of them led their, now quite large, group of slaves to the villages. They went from house to house, taking weapons and putting the slaves in charge of their former masters. Every single family that resisted was killed on the spot. It was the biggest massacre Sankru has ever seen. And it wasn’t nearly done yet. They still had to meet up with James’ team at the tower. King Ellic’s tower.


	15. Closer

SANKRU

“Russ!” James yelled and ran forward to kiss his boyfriend, “Let’s not separate anymore, OK?”

“Deal.”

Akari immediately started giving out the weapons James’ team brought. Together the two groups had about a hundred men. The others stayed behind to keep the former slavers from resisting or coming to the King’s aid.

Now the only thing standing in their way was the King’s guard. Those were heavily armed and well trained men. They have lived thought slave uprisings before. Many, but none like this one. Some of the older, more experienced guards fled as soon as they saw the angry mob approaching. Others stayed behind and fought until their last breath. Fought for a king like Ellic.

When they secured the entrance they expected the resistance to continue on the inside. But it was almost empty. There were signs of a bloody struggle all across the hallways as they climbed to the top. Cameron noticed some bodies, but all of them guards. Finally, they reached the top room, but the door to the King’s chamber was locked.

“It’s me! It’s Akari! We did it!” Akari banged on the door repeatedly.

“You think the King is gonna just open up?” Cameron asked.

“I’m not calling for him.” Akari said and the door opened. On the other side stood a woman in a long black dress.

“You Akari?” she asked.

“You Pala?”

“Yeah, come on in. We withheld the Prince until you got here.” she moved from the door and Akari stepped in first. Cameron followed him and then James and Russ holding hands. Inside were maybe ten similarly dressed women standing around a man tied to a throne. Presumably, King Ellic. He was naked from the waist up and full of scratches, especially on his face.

“Don’t worry,” Pala said, “We didn’t break anything… Important.”

“So you are his-”

“Concubines.” she cut Russ off, “The term is concubines. And we are done here. The armory is on the second floor, the pantry is down the hall on the right. Have fun.”

She spit on the King as she passed by him.

“Why don’t you stay? It’s safe now.” James said when the girls started leaving.

“Most of them want to go find what’s left of their families. And I just want to go as far away from here as possible.” she answered.

“The boy’s right, we need you. Every person we can get.” Akari handed her one of the swords, “Can you go to the canyon? We’ll build a camp there for the refugees from other clans. And of course to defend against invaders.”

Pala agreed to help and left with the girls.

“You think you’ve won, but you have no idea what’s coming for you!” the King found the strength to speak again while smirking, “The Ice Queen will come and then you’ll know suffering. You’ll weep for your slave days. Just-”

James cut him off with a punch to the face.

“Is he telling the truth? Who is this Queen?” Russ asked what they were all thinking.

“She’s our enemy. They’re all our enemies: kings, queens, princesses, commanders and generals. Everyone who stood by and let them do this to us. And we don’t stop until they’ve freed every last slave!”

“But first we hold Sankru?” Cameron asked.

“Yes, first we go to the border and hold what we have conquered.” James said.

“What about him?” Russ was referring to the King.

After a discussion they decided to hand him over to the angry crowd of slaves. The four of them threw Ellic from one of the lower floors so that he wouldn’t die in the fall. The crowd took care of him then.

\---

“Who the hell does she think she is?” Cassia couldn’t walk anymore. Her and Daisy have walked as far in the opposite direction of Polis as their legs would take them.

“I know. One month and already she thinks she’s a damn Grounder!” Daisy agreed. They’ve been walking for a while and didn’t run into any good hunting or stealing opportunities. They were down to one weapon since Cassia forgot her sword and dagger at their last camp site. They were getting desperate. Then they spotted a woman beating the chain on her hand with a rock.

“What are you doing?” Daisy asked not even considering that this woman could be dangerous.

“Just trying to get rid of this damned thing! You two don’t look so good,” she spotted the marks on the girls’ arms, “Have you escaped too? Are you heading to Sankru?”

“We’re not heading anywhere, really.” Cassia answered.

“Well, I did escape. And I’m heading to Sankru. It’s a few hours that way and through the canyon. You can come with. I’ve heard the slaves of Sankru have set themselves free. The rumors say they will provide any slave with food, a place to sleep and protection.”

“And you are willing to risk your life for a rumor?” Cassia asked.

“Oh, hell, Cass, I’m ready to risk my life for a piece of fruit at this point.” Daisy cut in, “We’re coming.”

So they followed the woman on a few hour walk through the wilderness. They could see how the forest got sparser as they moved forward. The heat was getting unbearable and at some point Cassia just collapsed. They didn’t drink or eat for a while so it was not unordinary. Daisy wanted to drag her friend the rest of the way, but the former slave woman told her they would never make it with an unconscious girl slowing them down. Hard as it might be, Daisy took her dagger and killed Cassia to save her from any more suffering.

\---

TRIKRU

May’s story of captivity was very convincing to the Commander and combined with Clarke’s brought them a deal. Almost. Clarke just had to prove she could heal Reapers. Which Elliot sincerely hoped she could.

At about the same time Mackenzie had arrived and was spying on the Grounders camped outside Skaikru’s settlement. She saw the Commander leave with Clarke, which was curious. But what she really needed was to hear a few things. Then she’d have something to report back to Nia. She had to get closer. But just as she was about to enter Trikru’s camp someone knocked her down. She recognized him. He was one of the Assassins. Then what was he doing here?

“Gon ai Haiplana! [For my Queen!]” The man swung his blade. He figured he could tell the Queen she tried to make contact, when in fact he just didn’t like that a Sky Person was allowed to call themselves an assassin.

\---

“So, are you guys going to stay with our people?” May asked.

“Absolutely not! I’ve invested so much into this!” Tyona said.

“They’ve accepted us. It would feel like treason.” Mason looked at his wrist. He was a bit upset after finding out Anya was dead.

“And we need them trusting our people. The only way to do that is to adapt.” Elliot said.

Then, in the middle of a conversation Mason saw something in the tree line and started running there without saying a word. Tyona didn’t waste a second but ran straight after her friend. Elliot and May, the people without combat training, followed soon after.

What Mason saw was Mack fighting off a cloaked man. She was losing and thought she was as good as dead when Mason ran out of nowhere and started fighting by her side. Tyona helped him while May and Elliot checked if Mack was unharmed.

“Heda na sen hashta disha in! [The Commander will hear about this!]” Elliot yelled and the man made one quick move stabbing Tyona right in the neck and then ran off. Mason knew there was no saving Tyona, she was gone, so he ran after the man. He returned a few minutes after.

“It has been done.”

“Why did you do that?” Mack got up and dusted her clothes, “I’m an assassin. I could have handled it alone!”

“I don’t know what they taught you at,” Elliot took her hand and turned it so her wrist mark was visible, “Azgeda, but here we still work together. They are about to start a peace with the Sky People.”

“What is Azgeda? What are you talking about?” May was a bit confused.

“That’s it. Later, you and I are going to have a little History and Geography lesson.” Elliot said.

“I’m glad you’re alive, though. But poor Tyona.” Mason kneeled over the body.

\---

Madison thought about running, but stayed anyway. She was a warrior’s second, not a little girl. Her clothes, her braided hairstyle, her weapon, everything about her said “warrior”. And in that moment she also found the warrior’s bravery.

She drew out her sword and charged at the guy standing closest to her.

“Damn it, why can’t you listen?!” Roan took out the remaining five one by one with relative ease. When he turned around he saw Madison smiling, standing over a body with a bloody sword. He felt relieved.

At least until he saw the growing red stain on her shirt. She collapsed as soon as she realized she was hurt. Roan couldn’t stop the bleeding so he picked her up and carried her to the tower. The only person there whom he recognized was Titus.

“Fix her up, you freak!” Roan pinned him against a wall.

“I am sorry, but I am not a healer.”

“You will be sorry if you don’t help her! Call a healer then!”

Titus got free of Roan’s grip and summoned some people to make sure the girl stopped bleeding.

“She will live. Thanks to us. You’ll be free to leave in a few days.” Titus and Roan talked in another room while Madison rested.

“No. No, I’m not taking her with me, it’s obviously too dangerous. You said the Commander is negotiation peace between her people and ours. Then take her there. She will find someone she knows. Just… Tell her I’m sorry.”

\---

“Wait, you think we should actually give Finn to them?” Clarke asked. After she found out what the only remaining condition for peace was she ran into May, who led her to the three people she’d written off as dead.

“Definitely.” Mason told her.

“We’re talking about Finn’s life here!” Clarke got a bit upset at how cold they all were about this.

“You have to understand, Clarke, that is their way. If you’re committed to something, you need to be ready to kill for it.” Elliot explained.

“He’s right. That’s why I had to kill Paul.” Mack said.

“You killed Paul?” Clarke was getting more upset by the second.

“It was me, or it was Paul. And now I’m alive and he is not.”

“You know, you’re welcome to come with us to our camp.” Clarke offered.

“This is our camp, Clarke.” Mason said, “Heda even let Mack stay since Azgeda was in the Coalition.”

“A little more than a month ago we were prisoners and now we are accepted and appreciated. Why would we ever wanna leave that?” Elliot said.

“If you see my dad,” May started, “Tell him I’m alive. And that I found my place, finally.”

Clarke nodded and walked away.

\---

AZGEDA

“Ontari!” Logan finally ran into her in one of the hallways. He had been wondering around all day and finally he got lucky.

“Leave me alone! I can’t talk to you!”

“Please, just give me a few minutes.” Logan took her hand and led her into the laundry room nearby. It was empty.

“I have nothing to say!” she pushed him away.

“Well, I do. I’m sorry if what I did was inappropriate. I’m sorry if I upset you, that was the furthest thing away from what I wanted.”

“I was not upset because you kissed me. I was upset because I wanted you to. You need to get away from me!” she pushed him again, “Before something happens to you! I can’t get involved with people, it’s not my destiny! I’m cursed.”

“Ontari, it’s not the blood that’s ruining your life. It’s Nia. It’s all Nia! It’s always been Nia! I didn’t come for you as some big romantic gesture. I came to get you because I’ve heard of a slave uprising in Sankru. A place where all slaves can be free again. And I came to ask you to go with me.”

“You should go. I won’t tell her. But I can’t go with you. She’ll look for me. She’d never let us be in peace.”

“I am not leaving you here!”

“I do not need you to save me!”

“Maybe we can save each other.”

After Logan said that, Ontari shoved him so that he was leaned on the door and started kissing him. Logan was surprised, but adjusted quickly.

“Does this mean you’re going?” Logan asked after the kiss.

“Yes.”


	16. Together Again

It was a long way to Sankru and learning how to ride a horse in just a few seconds proved to be impossible for Logan. So he just agreed to ride with Ontari. She probably could ride before she could walk. They rode quickly through the canyon, not knowing what they will find on the other side. They dismounted when they saw a couple of people running towards them from what appeared to be a small improvised camp. Ontari put her hand on her sword’s handle and waited for any reason to draw it out and start killing people. Logan, on the other hand, looked thrilled.

First Daisy jumped to hug him, then James.

“I knew you’re too scrawny to kill!” Cameron bumped his shoulder. Russell shook Logan’s hand ironically calling him “Sir”.

“So, who’s the girl? She doesn’t have a slave mark.” James noticed.

“Don’t you see the face? Don’t be a jerk.” Daisy took a step forward and wanted to shake hands with Ontari, “There’s no reason to be frightened. You’re gonna be safe here.”

Ontari took a step back and started drawing her weapon slowly.

“I wouldn’t touch her if I were you.” Logan told Daisy and turned to Ontari, “Those are all friends.”

“Friends?”

“From the Ark. Sky People. The girl is Daisy, and these are James, Cameron and Russell.”

“Daisy is a flower.” Ontari felt a bit uncomfortable with all these smiling people she didn’t understand.

“Yeah,” Daisy smiled, “And it’s also my name.”

“Well, guys,” Logan started, “and girl, I have the honor to present to you Ontari kom Azgeda, Nightblood, master of combat, fierce warrior of Azgeda, the only surviving trainee of the Ice Queen and my friend.”

“You were a slave soldier?” James asked.

“Since I was three.” Ontari was beginning to feel more comfortable.

“We need to show you to Akari. You could really help us out with our defenses.” Russ said, “Come on Logan, you’re gonna meet the person responsible for all of this.”

“You could do better than him, you know that?” Cameron teased Ontari, but she wasn’t quite sure why.

\---

Since Finn was dead, the peace could finally begin. Everyone went to TonDC for the funeral. All of Skaikru was a bit on edge from the recent events so May chose to walk with the Grounders, next to Mack and Mason, while Elliot rode a horse right behind the Commander.

“Did I tell you I fought in a war?” Mason said while he walked with Mackenzie, holding hands.

“For real?”

“Now… Now, she’s interested…” Mason rolled his eyes.

“No, you have to tell me! I’ve been practically locked up most of the time. And you saw combat? That must have been so much fun!”

“I don’t think you quite understand war…” Mason chuckled and continued to tell her all about his and Anya’s adventure. Conveniently, leaving out the part where he got knocked out like a fool.

May was constantly smirking since she was walking close by and could hear all the nonsense they said to each other. Kind of reminded her of someone else. When they arrived to TonDC she could have sworn she saw Madison in the crowd. But the closer she came the more sure she was. It was Madison! May ran in front of the crowd, fell into the other girl’s arms and kissed her.

The whole village of people saw it and Lexa gave Elliot a look.

“Heda, they… They know each other from before… It’s a thing from before… Ah…” Elliot said and got off his horse to talk to the girls.

“Hey, this is great, but you need to take it down a notch, we’re at a funeral. Nineteen people are dead and you could cut the political tension with a knife.” he said.

“Sorry.” May pulled away.

“Chief!” Madison hugged him.

“What did I just say?” he asked since she wasn’t letting him pull out of the hug.

“This is not a happy hug. This is a sad hug because I missed all of you guys so much.”

\---

“Was that your girlfriend screaming in panic, just before dawn?” Cameron asked.

“Yeah… She gets these nightmares. I thought she was being murdered the first time I heard it. It’ll pass. I think…” Logan looked back at where Ontari was sitting on the other side of the main square of the camp.

“It’s just disrupting. On the Ark we could send her to talk to a shrink. Now the closest thing she has is you, Lover Boy.” Daisy said.

“I asked her about it. All I got was ‘It’s hell every time I close my eyes’ and how am I supposed to respond to that?”

“We’re all a little broken here. That’s no reason to shut someone out,” Akari joined in, “Most of us will have nightmares for the rest of their lives. She just needs a little time and a little help. The Ice Queen is by far the cruelest person I’ve ever heard of. It’s a miracle Ontari can even function.”

“I asked her to help me sort earlier. She turned me down. She’s been sitting in that exact spot the entire day.” Daisy said.

“OK, I’ll go check if she’s fine.” Logan walked away just as James and Russell were arriving.

“We sent the message.” Russ confirmed.

“What message?” Daisy felt excluded.

“The Commander sent us an offer. But we declined.” Cameron explained.

“She wanted us to let Ellic’s sister Gem take the throne back and in return she promised to do a better job of stopping slavery from returning.” James said.

“And we don’t want that?” Daisy was confused.

“No!” Akari said, “We want every person free at once. And that dynasty will never return to Sankru! She just wants to shut us up. We sent her our demands.”

Ontari was sitting far from them, in the shade, crawled up in a ball, hugging her feet.

“Hey, Ontar-”

“It’s hot.” she interrupted Logan.

“I know, it’s Sankru. So why aren’t you doing something?”

“I don’t know how to act in this situation.”

“Well you could go walk around. Meet new people, talk to someone…”

“I’m talking to you.”

“Not what I meant,” Logan sighed, “I meant, you don’t have a master anymore. You don’t have to just sit and wait for a command. You can just do whatever you want.”

“So I should go help your Flower Friend?”

“If that is what you want.”

Ontari thought she got what he was saying so she went to sort some weapons and clothes with Daisy and Pala while Logan went on patrol with Cameron.

\---

All five of the branded Sky People: Elliot, Madison, May, Mason and Mackenzie were all summoned in front of the Commander. Since this was minutes after someone tried to kill Lexa with poison they were all expecting to be exhaled. Or worse. They had the tent entirely to themselves and greeted their Heda with a bow.

“Elliot said there were twenty of you in TonDC the day you got your marks. Where are the other fifteen?” Lexa said looking to all five of them.

“I was alone!”

“I wasn’t with anybody!” Madison and May said almost in unison.

“I was taken with Kim, but you know she escaped, Heda.” Elliot said it just so that everybody else knew it too.

“Only Tyona and Julia were with me. At they’re dead.” Mason said.

“Paul’s dead. Oliver’s dead.” Mackenzie added.

“Do you have any reason to believe some of them would settle in Sankru?” Lexa asked.

“No. I know Logan was alive. But he’s in Azgeda working on the Queen’s estate,” Mack said, “Heda.”

“Wait. There were four carts out of TonDC that day. And we have people here from three of them. What happened to the fourth cart?” Elliot tried to remember the people on there, but couldn’t.

“I think Junior and Russell were on that cart.” May said.

“And Cameron.” Madison remembered.

“And Bailey, and Cooper.” Mason added.

“Cooper was with me,” Mack said, “It was Felix.”

“Why do you need that, Lexa?” Elliot asked, “Is it something bad?”

“Something possibly bad.” Lexa said after a short pause.

“What happened in Sankru?” Mack asked, but Lexa just dismissed them.


	17. Leader

Cameron was just eating when he saw a woman with a child running from Sankru and towards the canyon. He quickly realized they must be two of the people that were told to stay in their houses. He ran after them and caught up quickly. His weapon was enough to make them stop immediately. No use of force needed. Then he brought them to the camp and called for Akari, since he couldn’t think of a better thing to do.

“I don’t know.” Akari said.

“How exactly do you mean that you don’t know?” Logan asked.

“Simple. I am not your leader. We have no leader. We will decide on this together.”

“The whole camp?” James asked.

“No. Us. The people involved.” Akari took a step back to look at everyone. It was just him and the Sky People.

“Well, I think we should kill them.” Russ said suddenly.

“What?” Cam was horrified.

“Think about it.” Daisy cut in, “There have to be consequences for disobeying us. Have to. This is it.”

“But the girl.” James said, “She’s too young to be blamed for anything.”

“JJ’s right. We’ll return the girl. The mother will be taken care of here.” Akari said.

“I’ll take the girl and you guys figure out who will be the one to do it.” Daisy said. She told the woman she was gonna take her daughter somewhere safe and then reached for the girl, but she wouldn’t go with her. Then Daisy just grabbed the dark-haired girl and started pulling her from her mother by force. Then out of nowhere Ontari came swinging her sword.

Logan noticed her soon enough, and positioned himself between Daisy and Ontari.

“Ontari, no!” Logan screamed. Ontari just froze in place looking like she was weighing her options.

“Tell her it’s OK, we had a deal.” Daisy told Logan.

Logan looked straight at Ontari’s eyes, still blocking her way.

“Ontari, put the sword down, we’ll talk.” he said at last.

“I’m saving her.” Daisy said, still holding the girl’s hand.

“They all say that!” Ontari yelled in complete hysteria.

“Daisy,” Logan said calmly, “Can you imagine why seeing you take this girl from her mother may be upsetting to Ontari? Why abduction of young children is a sensitive topic for her?”

Daisy didn’t answer but gently put down the girl, who hugged her mother again. Ontari answered by putting away her sword and walking away.

\---

“Guys, guys, people? Hey?” Mason found May, Madison and Mack talking by the statue in TonDC.

“What is it now?” Mads asked.

“I just talked to the Sankru Princess…” he started but was interrupted.

“I thought Elliot was supposed to be out charming clan leaders?” Mack teased.

“She’s fourteen so no charming took place. And I just talked to her because she was crying.” he explained.

“A crying princess. This world has everything.” May rolled her eyes.

“It’s important. She said her brother, the King of Sankru, was killed…”

“Then you talked to the Queen and not a princess. Except if there is someone older?” Mads said.

“Come on, that’s not the point. The point is that he was killed in a rebellion. A rebellion rumored to be led by Sky People.” After he said that everyone was quiet.

“So that’s why the Commander asked all those questions. She means our Sky People. From our initial group.” Mack was getting it.

“But why wouldn’t she just tell us?” May asked.

“Because I wasn’t sure. And I didn’t need you telling anyone else.” Lexa walked out of nowhere with Elliot at her side, as always, “Don’t worry, it’s not a problem anymore. It has been confirmed. But I need all of you to stay here in TonDC.”

“Even me? My Queen will be expecting me back.” Mack said.

“Your Queen answers to me. She’ll manage.” Lexa said, “Now we have peace with Skaikru again and I am not willing to lose it over this. So you are not to share this information.”

“She is worried that is everyone at Camp Jaha finds out, that they would help the rebels since they are from their clan.”

“So what do we do then?” Mason asked.

“I am the Commander. I will take care of it. You just wait for the next command.” Lexa left.

“Great! This is gonna ruin the plan for Mt. Weather. I can see it!” May was mad.

“Don’t worry,” Elliot started, “Lexa can handle both.”

\---

Logan decided to give Ontari some space. But maybe he shouldn’t have because in the evening she burst into the main tent holding her sword at Daisy’s throat.

“Ontari! God… Stop!” Logan said and then he realized the little girl from before also came after her. They’ve decided to leave that decision for later. Cam argued that both prisoners were scared enough and that returning them to their house was enough.

“She killed her!” Ontari yelled, “She killed her mother!”

“What? Daisy?” Akari stepped closer.

“She wouldn’t do that.” Russ said.

“The girl told me!”

“Maybe she just remembers it wrong. How about you just-” James tried to intervene.

“No! You don’t forget your mother’s murderer!” Ontari was upset out of her mind, “This, no leader, it doesn’t work! I’m not saying it should be me, I’m saying we should have one.”

“She’s right, you know…” Logan joined, “Daisy, did you do it?”

“I did. And I’m not sorry. We have a good thing going here. And I’d rather regret the people I do kill, than the people I should have but couldn’t.” Daisy tried to defend herself.

Akari gave a nod to Ontari and she slid Daisy’s throat. Then she turned to the little girl and said: “Jus drein, jus daun.”

“There have to be consequences.” Akari said.


	18. Chains

“It’s too quiet. Nothing is happening. I don’t like it.” Madison explained to Elliot.

“We’re waiting for news from Bellamy. He’s spying on the Mountain.”

“I know, I’m just really worried something is gonna go wrong while we just sit here.” Madison stopped there and looked behind Elliot. She saw the Queen of Azgeda approaching. Mads didn’t know who that woman was, but Elliot had a pretty good idea.

“Ai gaf chich yo Heda op. [I need to speak to your Commander.]” Nia said to the two of them. Madison just froze because she understood just two words that were said. Elliot was too busy thinking why would the Ice Queen be in TonDC. She wasn’t invited which meant trouble.

“Monin, Haiplana. [Welcome, Queen.]” Elliot came to his senses and began speaking carefully, “Ai na hon Heda op gon yu. [I will find the Commander for you.]”

Madison was completely impressed.

“Just hurry up and do it, Sky Boy.” Nia looked impatient. Guess Elliot’s accent could still be heard.

He led Nia to the Commander’s tent, while Madison went to get all the others. Since their friends were involved, they felt like they should be a part of this meeting.

“What is the meaning of this? Queen Nia, you have not been summoned to Trikru and your presence is not needed here.” Lexa rose from her chair suddenly.

“Calm down, Lexa. I trust that you are aware of the impending Sankru threat?” Nia stepped closer ignoring Lexa’s dismissal.

“I am aware and perfectly capable of handling it without anyone else’s involvement! You are to leave immediately.”

“I can be civil, Lexa. Until we resolve this. Can you?” Nia sat at the table.

“Don’t you worry about me,” Lexa sat down as well, “What is it you think you know?”

“Well, I know that Ellic is in pieces and that his clan is in open rebellion against the throne. And yet you continue to do nothing, while they recruit slaves from every corner of the Coalition.”

“I am not doing nothing! Queen Gem and I have already started negotiating with the rebels.”

“Queen? You dear are no queen!” Nia turned to Gem who remained silent, “You better go and leave the grown women to talk.”

“She’s a child!” Nia said after Gem left in a hurry.

“I would like to remind you that I was a little older than her when I defeated you and your clan.”

“Yes. And I will never forget it,” Nia made a little pause, “Because you didn’t negotiate. You overpowered me. You made me comply. We need that now!”

“They rebelled for a reason. They were slaves, they were suffering. If we meet their demands, they’ll stop. They are not wrong about slavery, it has escalated in Sankru.”

“They will not bargain with you. They think they’re so special… We are all slaves to something. Duty makes us slaves, so does hunger, or love. None of us is free. You are the leader of the known world. Do you feel free? Just because their chains are iron and ours cannot be seen doesn’t mean they’re any worse off. Neither one of us gets a choice nor should any of them.”

“So what would you have me do? Kill them all?”

“They are led by Sky People. That’s why intimidation doesn’t work. They don’t know you or me, the things we’ve done. They don’t feel fear like normal people do. They don’t fear death, or me, or you, or anything in this world! That’s why we need to show them.”

“What makes you think we would even prevail? There are a lot of them.”

“Because for the first time in history, you and I have a common goal. Someone to destroy. And the army of the 12 clans stands behind us. Give the order, Lexa! Or they will come and destroy everything we’ve been building all our lives. They wish for anarchy! They took my second.”

“I might congratulate them when we meet.”

“What would have your mother done?”

“She would march there and end it all with blood and steel.”

“I miss her. We had many differences, but when it came to things like this we were an unstoppable force.”

Elliot was called by a man from the hall and handed a paper. The other four looked over to their friend.

“What is it, Elliot?” Lexa asked, but he was reluctant to say.

“A message from Sankru.”

“Why would they write it down?” Nia asked.

“Because they knew we would be here to read it.” Mason said.

“Oh, I can’t wait anymore!” Mack took the paper from Elliot and started reading.

“The free people of Sankru refuse your offer. We will not stand down until every man, woman and child in the known world have the right to work and live wherever they want. We wish for all the slaves to be released immediately and for Sankru to become a free clan under the rule of a council of chosen people. If you refuse to comply with this we will be forced to repeat what happened here in all of the clans of the Coalition. Our numbers have already doubled and keep on growing.” Mack made a little pause, “Signed by Akari kom Sankru and James, Cameron, Russell, Daisy and Logan kom Skaikru.”

A few seconds after everyone was quiet until Nia just asked: “Lexa?”

It’s a dark day when the Ice Queen is right about something. May, Madison, Mack, Mason, Elliot… Everyone felt bad, but they had no way of defending their friends now.

“The message is pretty straight forward. After the Mountain we take Sankru back. With force.” Lexa said and Nia smirked.

\---

Logan and Russ were on patrol. They were exchanging stories about their adventures when they spotted something moving in the canyon. What now?

They ran closer since in most cases it was new slaves coming to start a new life. But this time it was three cloaked men.

“Who are you?” Russ asked, but got no answer. The men drew out weapons, one had a bow and two of them swords. Logan was caught unexpected so one cloaked assassin grabbed him and put the blade on the boy’s throat.

“We come here in the name of our Queen, Nia of the Ice Nation. We hear you have something that belongs to her.” one of the assassins said.

“And we are here to get it back.” another added.

“You’ll never get her, bastard!” Logan tried to get free but failed.

“We only need one of you. No one has to die.” one of the assassins took his hood off.

“Let him go, Basc!” Ontari ran to them. After her were James and Cameron. Russ was glad he wasn’t the only one handling this situation.

“Ontari! Just the girl we need. Nia said that we can’t come back without you.”

“Let him go first, he has nothing to do with it. You don’t have to do this, Basc. Any of you.” she said.

“Yes, we do. Ontari, you know her. If we ran, our families would suffer. We have no choice. Now come with us and your boyfriend will live.”

“Ontari, don’t you dare!” Logan screamed.


	19. Left

But Ontari had already made her mind. She threw her sword and five daggers in the sand and started walking towards the one called Basc, surrendering.

“Ontari, please!” Logan wiggled, but couldn’t get free.

When Ontari got close she suddenly punched Basc and reached to get one of his daggers. She used it to hit the man holding Logan. He took the chance to run free, but Basc came back to his senses and grabbed Ontari. She didn’t even fight him anymore.

“Logan, run!” Ontari screamed as the third assassin started firing arrows first at Logan and then at all the rest gathered there. She knew they had orders to kill Logan and bring her. At least now they were only half successful.

“Retreat!” James yelled and him and Russ grabbed Logan and dragged him away from danger. That’s what Ontari wanted. Logan’s feet just weren’t working after he saw the assassins drag her away.

“Man, you OK?” Cam asked Logan. He didn’t answer but ran away to where Ontari and he slept. The others followed him since the look on his face was worrying. Russ remembered to bring Akari and explain to him what happened.

Logan kneeled down on his improvised sleeping bag and found Ontari’s sword. The one she’d brought from Azgeda. She didn’t use that one since she got here. She said it’s for war only. He unsheathed the blade and just stared at it.

Cam kneeled next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I get it, believe me. Bailey’s gone, but Ontari… Ontari’s alive. We’re gonna find her.” he felt like it was his responsibility to help Logan. He is the only one that could understand. James and Russ had each other. Cam still didn’t forget.

“You don’t understand!” Logan got up still holding the sword, “How would you feel if you were dragged back to the mines? That’s what’s happening to Ontari! She’s enslaved again! And I did nothing!”

“Calm down, Logan! We’re gonna free everyone, including Ontari.” Russ came closer with Akari.

“You talk so much about bringing freedom to everyone… And we couldn’t even save one girl! We just returned her to her abuser! I can’t even imagine what will happen to her when the Queen gets a hold of her!”

“Listen!” Akari got real close to Logan, “We will get your girl! No matter what it takes.”

“If there is anything left of Ontari. There is more than one way to lose someone.” Logan said. They were more motivated now to go for other clans in the Commander’s coalition.

\---

“Commander,” Mack ran after Lexa, “I was wondering if it was OK for me to return to Azgeda with the Queen today?”

“No.”

“But… Just no?” Mack was pissed. She did need to present some kind of reason.

“Just no.”

Mack rolled her eyes and started walking away.

“Wait.” Lexa said and Mack turned back around, “I need you here. All of you.”

“And may I ask what for?”

“You may. But I can’t answer yet.”

So Mackenzie found Mason and they waited for that “later” Lexa was talking about. TonDC was where Mason had spent most of his days on Earth so he knew if pretty well. He showed her around a bit. And the other three… Madison was showing May and Elliot some moves with a sword. Most of what Roan’s taught her.

Sometime after Nia left Lexa gathered all of them.

“I want you to try to talk some sense into your friends in Sankru.” Lexa said.

“You want us to go to Sankru? What about Mt. Weather?” May asked.

“It would be before the war with the Mountain. I’m just having the meeting with the clans’ leaders now. It would have to be secret. And you’d get no backup. So it’s up to you if you want to go.” Lexa explained.

“I’m in,” Mack said, “When do we leave?”

“You don’t have to say yes immediately.” Mason said.

“What is there to think about? May said she saw Echo in there. We need all of the army’s focus on the Mountain. And besides, we got this.”

“You have a point. I’m in too.” May said.

“Guess I’m in too,” Madison said, “My wound’s all better.”

“Elliot, please tell me you’re not gonna be a part of this suicide mission.” Mason said.

“Sorry. I’m going too.” Elliot didn’t learn those few fighting moves for nothing.

“You will stay, Mason?” Lexa asked.

“Yes, because I think there is no point to talking to them after that letter.” he explained.

The four people going packed while Mason sat where he once trained with Tyona. She was proof of what happens to people who try to help despite the odds.

“You can still change your mind.” Mack talked to Mason before they left the village.

“No thanks.”

“Then stay safe.” she leaned in and kissed him just long enough to make him wonder if he’d made a mistake.

He was supposed to be a Trikru guard at the meeting, but Mt. Weather bombed the village and he died immediately after the hit. The others were already too far to see it.


	20. Two

“This must be the canyon.” Elliot stopped his horse. He was getting so good at ridding.

“Thank you for that. We all see it. The question is what do we do now.” May dismounted.

“If we go through there we’re caught.” Madison said.

“How about on the top? But the must have archers up there.” Elliot said.

“Guess we could wait down here for when people change shifts. They will be alone.” Madison suggested.

“You’re all right. And you’re all wrong,” Mack cut in, “We have to split up. Try all the possible entrances.”

“Do you like want us to get killed?” May asked sarcastically.

“Roan always used to say ‘Fight together or die alone’.” Madison said.

“Well, one person is harder to spot than a whole group. And our mission is to get our people alone, yes?” Mack crouched down and started drawing in the sand.

“I’ll go through the canyon, I’m a negotiator. That’s what I do.” Elliot said.

“Well, you might need this.” Mack handed him a dagger and Elliot put it up his sleeve. It was better than his sword. They would spot that coming in.

“Mads and I can take the people on top. I’ll go left.” May said.

“Yeah, I’ll go right.” Madison hid a dagger too, “How about you, Mack?”

“I’m going around. I think I saw a trail. It’s far and a bit steep, but me and Folau can handle it.” Mack petted the horse she rode here.

 “You named your horse Ash?” Elliot asked.

“It’s Echo’s horse. It got lost when they got her.” Mack went through her pack and found some white paint to put on her face.

“Roan was Azgeda, give me some, too.” Madison took just a little of it and drew a white line on both of her cheeks.

“Gon wor? [To war?]” Elliot asked.

“May we meet again.” May said.

“Mebi oso na hit choda op nodotaim. [May we meet again.]” Elliot smiled.

“Show-off.” Mack mounted Echo’s horse and rode away. Then everyone else went their separate ways.

\---

“I’m off with Cameron to guard the canyon from above.” Russ kissed James goodbye.

“How is Logan today?”

“As well as can be expected. He ate. And now he has an obsession with learning how to sword fight. There’s a couple of former warriors teaching him now.”

“I’m worried about him. You really think we’ll find her?”

“If she is alive, we will find her.”

After that Russ and Cameron walked away and split up, each to climb their way to their post above the canyon. Cameron was surprised to see May on his way up and even more surprised she wasn’t here as a slave. Russell was terrified when he saw another person with Azgeda war paint and then confused that it was Madison Brooke.

James stayed behind to receive any new slaves that make it till here.

“I am Elliot of the Sky People. I believe you have my friends here,” Elliot walked in with raised hands, “Take me to a Sky Person, any Sky Person.”

“Do I qualify?” James asked and Elliot smiled.

\---

“So that’s it? You’re just gonna run now? Let’s go again!” Logan yelled. All of his sparing partners have quit because, in their words, he was being too aggressive.

“Fine, I don’t need you at all!” Logan was furious. He walked over to Ontari’s sword and drew it out.

“You mind if I try?” Mackenzie walked out of nowhere.


	21. Betrayed

Akari was sitting in front of his tent, enjoying the sunshine, while he was trying to calculate how many people they would actually have on their side if they tried to take over any other clan. It was hard to keep track, with people coming every day, some of them hurt and unable to fight. But the people they liberated would have to join them. That was the only way it could work.

It was Akari’s vision to see all the slaves free and all the Privileged on their knees, he was not gonna lead his people into a slaughter.

“Akari! There is their answer!” he turned around and saw James pointing his sword at a young man, rushing him forward, “Tell him, Elliot! Tell him what your Commander says.”

“Our Heda refuses your offer and urges you to stop your movement immediately or there will be consequences to everyone involved.” Elliot conveyed the messages. He sincerely hoped his friends had better luck. James just didn’t want to listen to a single word he said. And the Commander was not threatening in vain. Terrible things were gonna happen to every person in that camp and they just couldn’t see it.

“Did you hear it? Consequences?” James raised his voice, “She is the one that will finally face consequences!”

\---

“Thank god, May!” Madison ran to hug her, “Me and Mack were beginning to worry.”

“Well, I’m fine. But they’re really convinced. It’s like they’re brainwashed or something.” May explained.

“It’s like Nia said. They haven’t seen what we have. They have no idea what they’re up against.” Mack played with her dagger.

“Did you see Elliot at all?” Mads asked.

“I have no idea where he ended up.” May said, “You don’t think he…”

“Joined up? Doubt it. He’s too loyal to Lexa to turn just like that.” Mack didn’t say it but she wondered if Elliot might have been talked into joining their cause. They were persuasive.

\---

“Are you sure there is nothing I can say that will get you on our side friend?” Akari asked Elliot.

“No,” Elliot sat in the sand while Akari and the others discussed his faith, “But I can deliver a message for you back to the Commander.”

“No way! You’ve seen a considerable amount of our camp.” James said, “And god knows what the others have seen. We have to catch all of them.”

“They’re gone, JJ. What do you want us to do?” Cam asked.

“They’re waiting for him. They must be around here somewhere.” Russ said.

“And if we do tell them to surrender in exchange for his life, what do we do with them then?” Akari asked.

“They’re our prisoners. Until all of this is done. We won’t kill them.” Russ said.

“They’ll never surrender for me. Never.” Elliot interrupted their discussion.

“Alright then, let’s go, shall we.” Logan said, “Chain up our friends because apparently that’s what we do now.”

\---

Elliot led the five of them through the canyon and to where they were supposed to meet. They never tied him up, because they didn’t perceive the Commander’s advisor to be a threat. That’s why Mack immediately assumed he changed sides. She drew her weapon seeing them approaching.

“You snake!” she said.

“I didn’t, I swear.” Elliot defended himself.

“You will surrender your weapons and go with us, or Elliot dies. Right here, right now!” Akari threatened.

“You all support this? Logan? Cam?” Mack asked.

James looked around at his friends. They were all looking away, unsure of what to say. Guess it was up to him again. Like with the gun. This rebellion was gonna require blood being spilt. He stepped up to Elliot and touched his chest with his sword.

“Surrender now!” Russ just wanted it to stop. If they surrendered they would not be hurt.

“Just walk away!” Elliot said, “Tell the Commander!”

“Shut up!” James yelled.

Elliot thought about all his options. But above all he thought about what really meant something to him. Were these people really his friends? Did he owe them a damn thing? Or Lexa? Did he really cherish the life he earned with her so much? Then he saw May, Madison and Mack willing to be captured to save him. And James was more than ready to kill him like it was nothing.

Elliot took out the dagger Mack had given him, swiftly launched forward and slit James’ throat. He immediately dropped the knife and stood there in shock. The only thig that could be heard was Russell’s scream. He ran and kneeled next to James’ body. Everyone else was just… shocked.

“Get out of here!” Logan screamed not wanting this to turn into a slaughter.

Mack ran and grabbed Elliot’s arm dragging him from there. The four guests rode out of there as quickly as they could.

The other three knew they couldn’t catch up to them, but they would never forget this. If there ever was some kind of curtesy between them because of their common faiths, it was gone now. Dead, as James was.

\---

In TonDC Elliot told the Commander what kind of a stupid thing he’d done. If anything they made the political situation worse. Elliot did feel like she didn’t yell at him enough. Guess she went easy on him.

“Where’s the girl? The assassin girl?” Lexa asked.

“Mackenzie? She wanted to light a candle for Mason. That’s what people used to do…” May explained. Lexa just nodded.

“After what I did, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were already organizing their attack,” Elliot said, “Maybe it’s better if I don’t follow you to the battle.”

“Elliot,” Lexa started calmly, “You feel like you’ve betrayed them, but it is them who betrayed all of you. You’ve all worked so hard to get where you are and they think they have the right to judge you for it. Never feel like you have to apologize for your success. After Mt. Weather I will take them down, and I would like all of you fighting there too. Because you are no longer Skaikru. You are one of us. Each of you.”


	22. The Doors

“Logan! I’ve been looking all over for you,” Cam stopped Logan while he was walking across the camp, “Akari named us all his generals. Cause we’re the ones that came down from the sky and changed everything!”

Logan nodded, “Don’t we have time before we go all civil war on the Commander?”

“What happened to you? A yesterday you were ready to split someone’s head open.”

“Well, I calmed down. But I woke up this morning and everyone’s armed and preparing a horse. Did Akari give some kind of an order?”

“We’re going now. The army of the twelve clans is fighting the Mountain soon. All the warriors will be there and the slaves…”

“Stay home.”

“That’s right. But not for long.” With that Cameron walked off leaving Logan standing alone. He looked around once more and saw that everyone was preparing something. People were preparing weapons, armor…

“General Logan!” Akari walked over to him with Russell.

“Commander?” Logan wasn’t really sure if he was kidding or not, but Akari laughed. Because he felt like he slept for days and missed when this uprising became this serious.

“We need to go over the plans in the main tent, now.” Akari added.

“We’re gonna avenge all of them. Bailey, Ontari and James.” Russ said.

“I’m more interested in freeing Ontari, than avenging her.” Logan was wearing her sword.

“Yes, of course. We will free people on the way and the more able ones should join us.” Akari started, “First we go for Rock Line. They have mostly house slaves there. A few work on farms.”

“Yes, I have to… Get ready then. I guess.” Logan said and ran off. He packed all of the stuff the called his which was mostly just Ontari’s sword, some clothes and a horse. Then he went right through the canyon and out of Sankru. He was a general so no one would stop him.

The truth was he was worried about his friends falling off their track. And if he was going to try and get Ontari from the other side, he had to earn some points by fighting the Mountain.

He wasn’t really good with the geography of this world yet, because last time Ontari led the way, but he got lucky and came across the army marching for Mt. Weather. He decided to just get off his horse and act like he belonged.

He marched with the crowd and no one asked any questions. They stopped at the gate of this scary place everyone talked about.

\---

“Jus drein, jus daun!” The crowd chanted and May chanted with them.

“That guy looks like Logan.” Madison told her and she turned.

“Can’t be him, can it?” May asked.

“Jus dreain, jus daun!” Elliot and Mack were still repeating in unison with the other soldiers waving their weapons.

“Guys, that is Logan over there.” Madison told them.

“Hell, how?” Elliot was shocked too.

Mack didn’t waste time on shock and pushed her way to him.

“Logan, I swear if this is some kind of a lame spy attempt…” she said.

“No. I… I wanna help with getting our people out of Mt. Weather.” he explained.

“Seriously, you want me to believe you are here for Jasper freaking Jordan and Nate Miller? The truth!” Mack was yelling but so was everyone else around them.

“The people at the camp, they’ve lost so much… I think they’re too focused on revenge and not enough on what still could be saved.”

“Like Ontari?” Mack asked.

“Like Ontari.” Logan confirmed.

“So he stays?” Elliot asked.

“I don’t blame you.” Logan told him, “He wouldn’t hesitate to kill you.”

So the five of them followed Lexa closely the entire fight. They were never far behind. Everything was going according to the plan Elliot has explained. That is, until the button to open the door didn’t malfunction. May was going to make her way to Lexa and Clarke to ask what is wrong when the enemy started shooting. Madison pulled her down just in time.

The door was finally opened by an arrow shot from a Trikru warrior. Now it was just a matter of getting close enough to them without getting shot.


	23. Sides

Cameron and Russell found themselves atop a hill overlooking several of the most populated villages of Rock Line. Akari in front of them, all three with triangles painted on their face. Not hiding the slave mark, celebrating it. Hundreds of people behind them willing to start tearing homes apart at their word. They split the territory in three parts and each took a group.

The largest groups of slaves were at the fields. The households mostly didn’t have them at all or had one or two. Still, the rebels went from house to house, mostly finding just children and old people since most grown-ups were gone. Russell never thought he would have to look a twelve year old in the eye and tell him he will be punished for being a slaveholder. Cameron came across some slaves who were rather protective of their young masters. And the older people, they just wouldn’t surrender…

They were all a bit doubtful about what they were doing until they met up with Akari. He had with him about a hundred little children all barely dressed and dirty from mud and dust. Akari explained they were involved in making some kind of bricks from clay. All of them were so happy, enthusiastically cheering.

“Yontsleya kom skai! [Heroes from the sky!]” the kids kept yelling, wanting to get as close as possible their saviors. Akari picked up one little boy, seated him on his shoulders and started giving a speech motivating the adult slaves to grab whatever they could find and follow them to the next clan on their way.

“Chof… [Thank you…]” Russ heard after feeling someone pull at his shirt. One of the kids, a little girl was smiling at him and holding onto his clothes.

\---

Lexa ordered an attack on the flanks next. Clarke was told to stay behind, so Mack assumed that meant no Skaikru allowed. But Logan had a different idea. He ran right after Heda and her most trusted people when Clarke pulled his sleeve.

“You’re alive? How?” she wasn’t quite sure it was him yet. He did get quite a tan in Sankru…

“It’s a long story. Didn’t you hear? We’re Grounders now.” Logan smiled and continued after the Commander.

Elliot also went after the Commander without a second thought. He was beginning to feel better about what happened in the desert. The more experienced warriors were supposed to go first, but Elliot pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Unfortunately, the Mountain shooters heard them coming and opened fire. Logan immediately tackled the Commander, not knowing that was not something people usually did and lived. Elliot knew the proper way to protect your leader was to place yourself between her and the danger, so that’s what he did. And he immediately received two bullets in the chest as his reward.

“Ceasefire!” one of the Mountain Men said. He wasn’t wearing a suit which was odd.

“Get off me, soldier!” Lexa shoved Logan even though they were both unharmed because of him, “Are you surrendering?”

The Mountain Man smirked, “Not quite. I’m here to offer you a deal. I have all your people on the other side of that door at gunpoint so I suggest you listen.”

“The time to negotiate has passed.”

“The truth is, I don’t need your people anymore. All I need is the Sky People already inside. If you swear that you will give up this fight and leave, I will return all your people. No more lives lost for this conflict. Ever. And you can focus on the more immediate threat. The Rebellion.”

The man then threw a deck of photographs onto the ground in front of Lexa and she picked them up.

“We have cameras,” he continued, “Your outer villages are being attacked. You don’t have time to fight for the people from the Ark. Protect your own people first, Commander.”

“The slaves. They’ve started?” Lexa said flipping through the pictures in shock.

“They said they were hitting Rock Line first. I couldn’t talk them out of it.” Logan said and looked down.

Lexa knew almost every decent fighter in the Coalition was here. And the others, the farmers, the children, they were all alone and defenseless in their clans. If she couldn’t protect them, what kind of Commander was she? And she couldn’t allow her soldiers getting hurt or killed here. She needed them all to march against the rebels.

“Is that a yes on that deal?” the Mountain Man asked. Lexa nodded. They all walked back to the front gate where Lexa stopped her people from opening the door.

“What is this? They’re surrendering?” Clarke asked what everyone was thinking. May was so happy to see the first people slowly walking out of Mt. Weather. She remembered how she felt.

Logan ran to Madison, May and Mack.

“Not good, not good.” he mumbled.

“What is happening?” Madison asked when she heard Lexa say she’d saved her people.

“She made a deal, we’re leaving. The Slave rebellion…”

“It’s happening now? No, no… We have to get those bastards!” May knew something had to go wrong, but this… It’s not like her Ark friends meant so much to her. They didn’t. But no human being should have to go through what she’d experienced in that place.

Mack was listening to the conversation, but didn’t participate. She was carefully watching the door until she finally saw her master, Echo. She ran to the woman and let her lean on her to help her walk.

“It’s good to see you, master.”

“It’s good to see you, Mackenzie.”

The Commander ended her conversation with Clarke and ordered a man to sound the retreat. Everyone started moving, but for the few of them it wasn’t that easy.

“Where do you think you’re going?” May pulled Mads back.

“After my Commander. I know you’ve suffered in there. But we got what we wanted, if you think about it. They will no longer catch innocent people. Never again. Just a few lives to save countless more.”

“So you want us to jump into a new war? With our friends in Sankru?”

“They’re not our friends. Maybe they used to be, but they’re not anymore.”

May wasn’t quite sure that was the life she wanted. Constantly jumping from one slaughter to another. But this conflict with the slaves… Maybe it could be the last one. And she was sure she wanted a life with Madison in it. So she started following her.

“Aren’t you going to stay?” Echo asked.

“No! No way. We’re going home. To Azgeda.” Mackenzie frowned.

“I think you should stay.”

“What about what you said? To be an assassin is to be alone?”

“I’m not saying you should stay and fight for Skaikru. I’m saying that if the Mountain Men get what they need to go to the surface, then we’re all done. We’ll lose our only advantage. And they’d never stop. They’ll want our land.”

Mack thought about that for a while and then ran towards Clarke. It was ironic how she was the cold-hearted assassin and she was the one staying to help when there were almost no chances of winning.

“You stayed too?” she asked when she saw Logan, “You know this will definitely not take you to Ontari.”

“Well, I’ll find her. I know it. I just still need to be me when I find her. And I would never turn my back on someone who needs me.”

“I know. Then we do this together. And only after do we think about siding with someone in the other conflict.”

“One war at a time. Good idea.” Logan smiled.


	24. Win Some, Lose Some

“How long until Clarke comes to talk to us? What do you think?” Logan paced around while Mack was lied down on a couch. After everyone got back to Camp Jaha the two of them were placed in a room ant told to wait.

“She’s not coming to talk to us. She left.” Mack took a free strand of hair and started braiding it.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“She told me. She told me while we were walking from the Mountain. She said she needed space.”

“And you didn’t try talking her out of it. She’s not exactly like us…”

“Oh, give her a break. You can say whatever you wanna say about her, but she led us to victory.”

“So that’s what we do now? We’re gonna stay here, use guns, go by our surnames again?”

“No. There’s a war going on, Logan. We have friends on both sides, we have to be there.”

“I don’t even know which side to join at this point… I wish James didn’t die, then we’d still have a chance at negotiation. Everyone just… Lost it after he died.”

“Maybe we can still arrange something. But we can’t do it from here. I know we don’t have an army, but in the Assassins they teach you-”

“There she goes again…” Logan rolled his eyes.

“Let me finish!” she stood up abruptly, “They teach you that one person can change the world. That one action can destroy it.”

There was a silence after she said that and a guard entered to tell them the Chancellor is expecting them. They were surprised to find out that meant Dr. Abby Griffin. Oh, well… She was still in recovering and Jackson was doing something to her knee. It was still better than talking to Jaha.

“Come closer.” she invited and started thanking them for everything they did at the Mountain battle. Mackenzie didn’t know if it was the anesthetics or something, but the woman was being so nice and understanding. Inviting them to stay there at Camp Jaha. Offering them not their old life, but a completely new one.

“We have to go.” Logan said interrupting, “We have to leave now. We have… unfinished business.”

“Is that so?” Abby didn’t look surprised at all.

“It’s just…” Mack filled in since Logan had that sad look again, “Logan has someone he has to find. And I have someone I pledged my allegiance to. With your permission, we would like to get some supplies and leave.”

“Sure. Anything you need. Just… If you see Clarke out there, please tell her… Tell her to come home.”

\---

“Hey, are you two… From the sky?” a slightly younger girl approached May while she was keeping watch by the fire. Lexa ordered them to wait until they got further instructions, so Madison took the opportunity to catch some sleep.

“Yeah, we are. Is there a problem, Your Majesty?” May recognized the girl as Queen Gem of the Desert Clan.

“No. No problem.”

“Great then,” May realized Gem was visibly trembling, “I’m May and this is Madison. We’re gonna fight for you, don’t worry.”

“I wanted to ask… I wanted to ask…” Gem started speaking indistinctively and very, very fast, “I wanted to ask if you knew the people that did this and if you could, maybe talk to them and maybe get them to just surrender… Because their plan has failed and war is very bad for everyone and… and…”

“Slow down!” May walked to the girl. Gem went completely pale and was having trouble breathing.

“I can’t! I can’t… can’t…”

“How about you just sit here and breathe, while I get the Commander.”

May ran as fast as she could all the way through their camp until she got to Heda’s tent. With all the hurry she forgot to make her presence known and just entered. Lexa was in there, sitting on a throne and crying, just slightly.

May turned away. What was happening? Why did everyone in this camp choose today to start acting human? Now when they were off to war?

“The Queen is freaking out, I don’t know what to do!” May said, trying to ignore Lexa wiping off tears.

“Which queen?” Lexa realized what she’d asked, “Of course, Gem, not Nia. Where is Nia anyway?”

“I last saw her yelling at some of her men.”

“Well, just give Gem some space. She’s just afraid. She’s never been in a war before.”

May’s face probably looked surprised because Lexa added: “She was the youngest sibling of seven. She was never supposed to get the throne. But things happen.”

“The Mountain is dead!” Nia entered as disrespectfully as May did a minute ago.

“What?” Lexa asked.

“I sent people to investigate how many Skaikru survived. The answer is all of them! And then they checked on the Mountain. And they’re dead, every last one!”

At first May couldn’t believe it. They were safe. All of her people. Guess Mackenzie and Logan had to be OK too, then. May smiled sincerely, but then remembered she wasn’t alone.

 “Clarke.” Lexa mumbled and smiled too.

\---

Cameron was walking through the crowd when an old woman stopped him.

“Can you tell me what your leader’s name is?” she asked touching both of his arms.

“We don’t have a leader. Not really, but I think you might mean Akari. But anything you have to say you can tell me.”

“What is your name, young man?” she looked so happy, even more than the rest of the newly free people.

“Cameron.”

“Cameron, it is extremely important that you take me to Akari. You’ll understand later.”

So Cam listened to her and took her to the main tent since she didn’t look threatening. What could this sweet old lady do? When she first saw Akari she burst into tears.

“Mom?” Akari saw her too.

“I heard there was a great hero leading everyone to freedom. A brave young man by the name of Akari and I knew it was you!” she was still crying when he stepped closer and hugged her.

Cameron and Russell couldn’t help but smile at the sight. That was why they were doing what they were doing. So that no mother has to be separated from her son again.

“I promised you I would,” Akari ended the hug, “While they were taking you away. Where did they take you?”

“I was a house slave. First in Sankru, then the sold me here in Boudalankru. But you’ve freed me, son. And you? Is Oul here with you?”

“No… He… We were mining together and he died, mother. I’m so sorry… I could do nothing.” Akari was talking about his brother. Then tears filled his eyes too. Russell and Cameron understood. It took every bit of strength Russ had not to start crying about James again. Cam thought about how amazing it was that Akari found someone again after so much time. Too bad him and Bailey weren’t luck enough to find each other again.

Akari and his mother hugged again.

“A few hours and we will leave again. We have many sanctuaries for freed slaves-”

“I’m fighting with you, Akari! Who thought you how to hold a sword?” she slapped the top of his head causing Russ and Cam to burst out laughing.

“Mother, you were a warrior once, but we have plenty of young people able to fight now. You can help out at the sanctuaries.”

“Alright. But get him back alive you two.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”


	25. After

“The insurgents completely overtook the Rock Line.” Lexa held another meeting for her generals, Nia, Gem and apparently May and Madison, “The only option we have of stopping them is to confront them. To save as much lives as possible I have decided we will first stop their advancement by isolating Boudalan and Sankru from the rest of the Coalition.”

Madison looked at the map on the table. She didn’t yet know how to act at those meetings. She wasn’t really sure why her and May were there in the first place. That morning Lexa told them the two of them were responsible for the safety of Queen Gem. May didn’t love the idea, but Mads was somehow proud that she was the one doing the protecting this time around.

“That means we will be forced to split the men in three groups since there are three clans bordering with the territory they’ve already won.” said Nia, pretending like it was her meeting and causing Lexa visible annoyance.

“As I was saying… I will lead a group to the border with Delfikru. Queen Nia will go to Ouskejon Kru. And Indra,” Lexa turned to the chief, “I need you to be the third leader and go to Ingranronakru.”

“I would be honored.” Indra said.

“And what of Gem?” Nia cut in, “Don’t you think she should play some part in getting her throne back?”

“I have thought of that. She is still a warrior in training and will accompany me to Delfikru since it is the most populated of the three clans and the most strategically valuable.” Lexa gave Nia another displeased look.

“It’s on the way to Polis.” May whispered to Madison since she looked confused. Roan took her through most of these clans, but didn’t exactly stop to explain the entire political background every time. Looked like the two of them were going to Delfikru as well.

\---

The Delphi Clan was indeed big and the villages were densely populated. In every settlement the army passed through they were greeted by a happy crowd of people offering to help their journey any way they could. Lexa always rode in the front of the cavalcade and seemed indifferent to the cheering of the villagers. May and Madison have, of course, never experienced such a welcome before so they were radiating with pride, smiling at the children who were waving and jumping up and down. Their place was behind Lexa, surrounding Gem on her horse. The Queen looked like she hated all the attention. May thought it was because she knew they weren’t cheering for her, but for the Commander and generals who are here to protect them, but Gem sincerely looked like she didn’t want to stand in front of a crowd at all. That wasn’t a good quality for a queen.

As they were traveling closer to the border to Rock Line, Madison noticed a sudden decline in cheering in one of the villages they were passing through. There was just something about the people there. Something wrong.

She thought she was crazy until one of the people yelled: “Wamplei gon Heda! [Death to the Commander!]” and threw a rock at Lexa. She wasn’t hit, but immediately jumped off her horse and drew out her sword.

At that moment every person there took out a weapon or simply a rock and started attacking the passing warriors. May stared at the man that started it all and noticed he had a slave mark on his hand.

Madison was already off her horse and trying to talk Gem into getting off hers as well. Gem looked at the Commander for permission and got a nod.

“Wamplei gon Haiplana! Wamplei gon gonakru! [Death to the Queen! Death to the army!]” the people kept yelling while the soldiers weren’t quite sure whether to fight back or not. Lexa looked around and saw slave marks on most of the attackers. They were slaves. But they weren’t freed by the people she was fighting. They heard of the rebellion and killed their masters. They freed themselves. If this was going to start happening in other villages the Commander was finished and she knew that.

“Jomp emo op! Frag emo op! [Attack them all! Kill them all!]” she finally ordered and every warrior began fighting back. Even Madison managed to get her sword through a few of the people swarming around her and Gem. But there were too many for her. Luckily, May rode by them and took down just as many people as Mads, slashing them with her sword from her high position. Then she jumped off and ran to assure Gem everything was going to be fine. While she was talking to the girl, one of the rioters hit her over the head with a rock and May fell down.

“No!” Madison left Gem’s side to kneel down and check on May. She was in panic because she couldn’t feel a pulse. Gem started crying and ran off. Madison was crying too, but she knew she had to follow that poor, useless girl and help her, so she did.

But most of the crowd knew who Gem was. She wasn’t exactly hiding it, wearing a crown with Sankru’s symbol. One man grabbed her and was probably going to strangle her, but Madison killed him. Then she was hit by an arrow, not from one of the slaves, but from one of the Commander’s men, who mistook her for a rioter. Then Gem was completely alone amongst the angry people. Lexa found her moments later lying on the ground hugging her feet while the people hit her.

After the battle was done both Gem and Lexa were alive, but a bit bruised. All of the slaves that rioted were dead. And later when they checked the houses, they found nothing but bodies of those who weren’t part of this small uprising. The entire village was wiped out. Just like that.

“Fallback!” Lexa ordered, “Send ridders! Tell the other groups to stop and head back! It is not safe. Not here, not anywhere.”

\---

“You sure it’s safe to come out now?” Logan asked.

“The army’s gone.” Mackenzie pushed him from the place in the woods where they were hiding.

“They went back? Why? There are so much more of them than there are of the slaves.”

They rode for hours to catch up with the army and were waiting for the perfect moment to join May and Mads again, when they heard sounds of a battle in the village and hid. But Mack was not going to leave without investigating.

“This wasn’t your buddy Akari.” Mack said when they entered the village. She crouched down and checked the wrist of a couple of bodies.

“Slaves.” she said.

“Not all of them.” Logan found Madison’s body first. Than May’s.

“We should burn them. It’s not right.” Mack suggested.

“What about the rest of these bodies? Why did they just leave them?”

“They’re at war, Logan” she made a little pause, “What do you think happened? I mean… They’re all dead.”

Logan was going to say that he did not know when they heard a quiet whimper. Mack traced it to a giant pile of stacked wood. After some convincing, they managed to talk the little boy hiding in there to come out. He was five, maybe six and terrified, but Mack was determined to get answers out of him. The only thing they could get was that his name was Aurel.

“Did your mommy tell you to hide?” she asked and got no answer, “Can you tell us what you saw?”

“Mark.” was the first thing the boy said, pointing to Logan’s tattoo.

“Yes! Mark. Do you know anyone else with a mark?” Logan put out his hand letting the boy touch it.

“My nanny.”

“And did the nanny tell you to hide?”

“Yes. When the bad men killed my brother.”

“Where are your parents?” Mack asked.

“In war.”

“Don’t you get it?” Mack started, “The people from Sankru didn’t make it to here. They didn’t have to. This rebellion is not just one big fire. It’s creating lots of little fires all across the Coalition. They’re screwed! The Commander, Nia, all of them!”

“So, slaves kill masters, army kills slaves?” Logan asked.

“Exactly. Guess the nanny was quick to figure out what was gonna happen.”

“So what do we do?” Logan asked Mack, but looked at Aurel like he expected him to answer.

“I… I don’t know. The Rebellion seems to be winning. See what they did without even coming to Delphi?”

“I am not picking a side just because they’re winning!”

“Alright, so what do you want to do?”

“I want to… I just want it to stop!”

“Well, wake up, Logan! There is no magical switch, like in Mt. Weather! This is a real war and this is how it is! Both sides are wrong! Both sides are cruel! But one of them needs to win or it never ends!”

“The Commander… She said she’d fix it, but they wouldn’t believe her.”

“Well, do you believe her after all she’s done?”

“She wants to end war first and then slavery later. They want it the other way around.”

“Sounds so trivial when you say it like that.”

“So what do you want to end first?”

“I think…” Mack looked at little Aurel, “I wanna end war.”

\---

“How are we doing with the armor?” Cameron asked Pala, who was in charge of their supplies.

“Compared to a week ago – great. Compared to our enemy – poorly.”

“We can’t just expect people to march into battle without the proper protection. We’re not sending them to be slathered.”

“Of course, general. I’ll ask them to check the houses once more. Maybe we’ll find what we need.”

“No need to call me general.”

“Suits you.” Pala smiled and walked away. Cam walked away smiling too and found Russell sitting on the ground staring into the distance.

“I kind of miss it. The sand.” Cam sat next to Russ, “I’ve gotten so used to it…”

“What are you going to do when it’s all over?”

“I don’t know. All I’ve been doing is trying not to die.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking about. If we succeed in not dying, what’s next? Do we go back to Sankru, stay with Akari? Do we go see our people that came down?”

“I think I’d stick with Akari. Get some formal training. Fight for what I believe in.”

“I thought about maybe doing some traveling. See the clans, learn the language…”

“Remember when our biggest problem in life was Bellamy freaking Blake waving that gun?” Cam chuckled, “Seems so silly now. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened to us if we’d stayed with them. At the dropship.”

“A lot of people would still be alive. There’d be no rebellion.”

“True, but Akari would still be hitting rocks. Pala would still be with Ellic… No! I wouldn’t change it. For anything.”

Russ thought about that for a second when Akari walked to them.

“You afraid?” he asked since their next battle wasn’t far away.

“Absolutely.”

“So much.”

Akari smiled at their answers and sat next to them.

“Thought I was the only one,” then he made a pause, “You know, I might have lost my brother in those mines and I will never forget him… But I found two new brothers in there too.”


	26. Rescue Mission

Mackenzie found another cloak for Logan to wear since they were riding through the rapidly shrinking territory between the two armies. It was dangerous. Especially because Logan had a slave mark. To make it more difficult they also had a little kid with them. Aurel rode with Logan all the way to the Commander’s camp. They let him go there. They figured he was going to find someone who’d help him.

“So, you said you had a plan,” Mack said, “Let’s hear it.”

“Follow me.” Logan didn’t get off his horse to enter the camp. No. He took a deep breath and started riding as fast as the horse would go through the camp. Mack’s horse wasn’t far behind, also galloping. This was the army of the twelve clans, so the camp was huge. And Logan couldn’t risk being stopped at the front. The warriors all noticed the two riders galloping amongst the densely placed tents, they just didn’t have time to do something about it. Logan remembered hearing Mack call him a crazy person, or something similar. Maybe it was a little crazy. He could have easily gotten an arrow to the chest. But he didn’t. He stopped right in front of the biggest tent and jumped off his horse with his hands in the air.

“I need to speak to the Commander!” he yelled, now surrounded by hundreds of warriors from various clans.

“You’re insane!” Mack stood by him also raising her hands.

“Translate it. She has to come out.”

“Em gaf chich Heda op! Weron laik Heda? [He needs to speak to the Commander! Where is the Commander?]”

“Ai laik hir. [I am here.]” Lexa walked out of her tent with Nia and Indra.

“I know you,” Nia recognized Logan, “You’re mine. He belongs to me. You tried to take Ontari from me!”

“She wanted to go with me! You’re the one that took her!” Logan stepped closer to the Queen and in seconds had about fifty swords and arrows pointed in his direction.

“Tell them why you’re here.” Mack didn’t like this situation one bit. She wanted to draw out her sword, but at this point it wouldn’t make a difference anyway.

“Commander, it’s true that I was a slave. And I went to Sankru to join the rebellion. But I also came back!”

“You were there that night. You saved my life when we fought the Mountain.” Lexa remembered.

“Yes!” Logan was relieved, “Yes! That was me! Now please believe me when I tell you, I have no intention of returning to the rebellion. I’m here to help. I think I might know where they’re going next.”

“They’ve told you?”

“No. But I was with them. I know them.”

“We’ve already composed a plan. We will split our army. It’s the only way.”

“It’s not! James told me about it. He told me that before Ellic died he told them the Ice Queen was going to be the end of them. They’re going to Azgeda! Which of the clans nearby is on the route to Azgeda?”

“Ingranrona.” Lexa said, “But it makes no sense. Delphi is much more strategically valuable.”

“They don’t think like you. They don’t think like they’re leading a war. They think like they’re leading a rescue mission. There are no slaves in Polis. There are many slaves in Azgeda.”

Lexa was quiet, thinking.

“Commander, you can’t seriously be considering listening to this crazy slave’s plan! If he’s wrong we could be letting them walk right into the center of the Coalition.” Nia said.

“I’m afraid I have to agree, Heda,” Indra started, “It is not wise to risk sending the army to the wrong place.”

“I’m doing it,” Lexa said calmly, “Send word. We leave as soon as possible for Ingranronakru.”

“No! I am not risking those revolutionaries reaching my people, just because-” Nia stopped talking when Lexa turned to look at her.

“You will not second-guess my decisions! If you dare to leave this camp for any other reason than to go to Ingranrona, so help me, I will find you and I will turn you over to the rebels myself!”

That outburst finally shut Nia up so she left to prepare her unit.

“What are your names?” Lexa asked, calming down.

“Logan. And this is Mackenzie.”

“Good. Logan, I free you from your slave mark. We’ll make it official later. Now, I need you to tell me exactly what you saw while you were with those people. Both of you, follow me.”

Mack thought back to that thing about one act changing everything. Looks like they just did that. The only question was whether it was changed for the better or worse.

\---

Not that far away another army was on the move. They weren’t properly trained, didn’t have enough horses. There was far fewer of them. But they all had a reason for being there. This war was very personal to each and every one of them. They’ve all tasted what it felt like to be free and now there was no chance they would ever give that up again.

On their way here they’ve come across villages where the slaves have already taken the settlement over. Before the rebel army even got there.

“Our message is strong.” said Akari while they were marching.

“But is it strong enough? We count on people hearing about us and fighting on their own.” Russell wondered.

“People need to realize that they can’t wait for someone to give them freedom. They need to take it for themselves.”

“I think most of them just join because they think we were sent from the sky to liberate you all.” Cam said.

“Well, weren’t you?” Akari smirked.

“What happens when they find out we’re just regular people, not saviors.” Russ asked.

“You are heroes,” Pala joined in, “And don’t you ever forget it.”

As they were talking they passed the border from Boudalan to Ingranrona.


	27. All Comes Down To

“That’s Ontari’s sword!” Logan turned after he heard Nia scream. He was riding with Mack at the front of the crowd.

“And her dagger!” she saw that too.

“She gave that to me! And after all this is over, I’m gonna find out where you’re keeping her.”

“And do what?” Nia smirked, “What can you do, Sky Boy? When this is over, you’re coming back to work for me. Miles from Ontari.”

Logan pulled his sleeve a bit, revealing a fresh brand over his slave mark.

“Since an hour ago, I am no longer anyone’s property. In other words, I quit.”

“You’re still a thief,” Nia turned to Mackenzie, “Assassin, get off your horse and disarm this man!”

Mack froze. Was she an assassin still? Not if she disobeyed a direct order from her Queen. But this was Logan. He was… A friend. And that was not something Mack took lightly.

“No.” Mack said finally.

“What?” Nia pretended she didn’t hear her correctly.

“I said no!” Mack moved away from the Queen to be closer to the Commander and Logan followed.

“That’s not gonna look good on your resume, Mack.” Logan joked later.

“Well, screw them… I never really wanted to be one of them anyway.” Mack lied.

Logan knew she didn’t mean that. He remembered how proud she looked when she explained to him where she’d been since they landed. How proud she was to call herself a future assassin. And he kind of… He screwed it up.

\---

“Pala, how is it that you decided to fight with us?” Russ asked while they marched.

“Because I believe in the heroes from the sky.” she smiled.

“Oh, tell them,” Akari interrupted, “She was the daughter of two warriors. She actually got some training before…”

“Before they died.” Pala wanted to finish telling her own life story, “They died in a battle and I was left alone. My master didn’t want to take care of me full-time, so I lost that too. I had to find some way to eat. And I was tricked into taking a job when in truth, I could never leave. It’s easy to trick a child who doesn’t know a thing about slavery… But I found hope again when I started receiving messages through other slaves from a man named Akari. A man who promised to change our lives.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Akari smirked.

“Guys?” Cameron stopped walking suddenly. Everyone else looked in the direction of his glare to see what upset him so much. And there it was. On the other side of a giant plain. The army of the twelve clans in all it’s terrifying glory.

“Damn, that’s a big army!” Cameron said.

“Yeah, Akari, what do we do now?” Russ was panicking a bit. Just slightly.

“Do I look like I know?” Akari didn’t like all the pressure.

“They’re stopping. Why the hell are they stopping?” Pala asked.

\---

“Heda, what are you doing?” Indra asked.

“I’m going to meet their leader in the middle of the field.” Lexa was leading her horse forward.

“That is a bad idea,” Nia cut in, “They’ll shoot you down, no questions asked.”

“Just because we’re fighting ruffians, doesn’t mean we have to act like ones.” Lexa said and moved to stand in front of the army. Waiting.

\---

“You think she wants us to do the same?” Russ asked.

“Maybe it’s a trap.” Akari said.

“No, I read history books. I think that is a thing you do. Like ride over there and have one last negotiation.” Cam said.

“How sure are you?” Akari asked.

“Pretty sure.” Cameron answered.

“So which one of you is going?” Akari asked.

“No! No… It has to be you.” Russ was quick to answer.

“These people are here because they believe in the Sky People. Not for me.”

“They are here because of your plan. Your vision.”

“Why don’t we just all go?!” Cameron couldn’t take it anymore.

“Horses, someone!” Akari yelled.

\---

“Why are three of them coming? Are they insane?” Mack whispered to Logan.

“I don’t know. I think those are Cam and Russ.”

“That might be bad for our popularity. Let’s just keep it low.” Mack’s suggestion was met with a nod from Logan.

“Commander, do you wish for me to accompany you to the meeting?” Indra offered.

“Those two are Sky People, maybe me and Mack should go.” Logan said very loudly.

“Sure. To show that the Sky People are not all on their side.” Lexa agreed and waited for them to ride forward with her.

“This is keeping it low?” Mack asked quietly.

“Sorry. We didn’t come to sit around while things happened.”

Mack rolled her eyes. Like he didn’t understand English today.

\---

“Is that Logan?” Cam asked when they got closer.

“That son of a bitch!” Russ was certain.

“And Mackenzie.” Cam added.

“Stop. Forget everything personal now.” Akari quieted them down.

Then the six ridders all stopped at the same time. They stared at one another for a few seconds.

“Commander?” Akari spoke first.

“Yes. And you are…”

“Akari.”

“I remember that name from the message you sent. Do you still demand the same things?”

“We do. Do you still want to return my brothers to chains?”

Lexa chuckled as if she was speaking to a child: “I would never return the people behind you to slavery. But the massacres in villages have to stop.”

“Is death really worse than torture?”

“You know, it’s too bad that we meet under these circumstances. You could have been a valuable asset. All of this is not a small endeavor. It takes a truly extraordinary person to make something like this happen.”

“Too bad I was busy breaking down rocks for ten years!”

“Let me make it real simple for you! All these people behind you, the ones you called brothers, if I give the order, they are all going to die. All of them. Right here. I have three times the men and each of them has three times the skill of an ordinary man. You want to be a savior? Save your army.”

Sweat dripped from Akari’s forehead as he said: “Never!”

“If you prefer war, then war you shall have.” Lexa said and rode off. Mack and Logan followed her having said nothing. They just exchanged judging looks with their former friends.

\---

And it began. Thousands of people from each side of the field rushed towards each other. Even though one side was made out of fairly unexperienced people, they did not back down. Lexa was right at the front of the army, where the fighting was thickest and bloodiest. Mack warned Logan to try to stay with others from their side and lay low. She didn’t have experience in battle, but she did spend a month training with the toughest warriors this Earth had to offer. Logan was trying to remember what Ontari taught him, even though Mack advised him to just keep it simple and point his sword at the bad guys.

Cameron lost his weapon with the first wave of warriors he encountered so he was forced to pick up a weapon from one of the dead bodies. The first thing he grabbed was a battle axe and surprisingly, it felt very natural. Russ was one of the people who managed to stay on their horses. The majority of the people he killed were just run over by his horse. None of them saw what Akari was doing since they were preoccupied with not dying, but Pala kept close to him. His death would be very demoralizing to their army.

“We’re not doing so great, are we?” Russ finally found Akari again.

“We aren’t.” Akari realized the enemy warriors were getting deeper into their side of the field. People died on both sides, but their disadvantage was obvious.

“We just have to be more aggressive!” Pala knocked a man from his horse and took it for herself. She led a unit straight into the heart of the enemy army.

“What are you waiting for, go!” Logan told Mack. She had a plan. Surround Pala’s unit completely and then fight them. She started separating Pala’s unit from the rest of their people and surprisingly, many warriors followed Mack’s lead. Pala was completely surrounded by enemies when Mack’s horse ran close enough for the assassin girl to jump of knocking Pala to the floor. Mack killed her right in front of Cam’s eyes.

Russ stayed with Akari who, distracted by Pala’s death, got a cut on his arm. Russ decided it was time for them to remove Akari so he made him mount his horse too. They both went to get Cameron and rode to the back of their army. Just off the field to work on their strategy.

“What do we do? What do we do?!” Russ screamed.

“I don’t know! Whatever we try, they’re just better than us!” Cam just now realized he had a few cuts too.

Akari stared into the field. Here, for afar he could see just how much of their people were being slaughtered. It was not a pretty sight.

“How about we run for reinforcements?” Cam didn’t pay attention to Akari since he was determined this could still be solved.

“I killed them… She was right… I killed them…” Akari mumbled to himself.

“Who do we have at the shelters? Children and wounded. They are not going to get us out of this!” Russ also didn’t see Akari walk away from the two of them.

“It’s all… Because of me…”

“Do you have a better idea? Because I would love to hear it!”

“How about we get some archers to attack from the side?”

“They’re too mixed up… We’d just be killing our own men.”

“I did this… I killed them all… I’m sorry…” Akari saw his friends were too distracted so he took out his dagger and slit his own throat as deep as he could. He fell to the floor, blood getting everywhere.

“Hell, Akari!” Cam heard his desperate gasps and kneeled down to try and help him.

“He’s gone. He left us!” Russ yelled.

“What are we gonna do?  What are we gonna do now?”

“Should we just go? Or sound a surrender?”

“No!” Cam raised his axe in the air, “We are no cowards! We might not be able to defeat the army, but we can go for the leaders. We have to! Are you with me?”

“They killed James, they killed Bailey, they took over Logan and they are not going to get away with it!”

So the two of them rode forward and took their places at the front of their army once more. They lead the most aggressive attack yet and started making some real progress. But they were still nowhere near Lexa, Nia or Gem.

After a while the larger army of the clans started surrounding them. They were trapped. Just as Pala was. No escape and no way to fight back.

Eventually the slave army surrendered and Cameron and Russell were tied up to the Commander’s horse as the entire army made their way back to Polis. It was a long and tiring journey which they had to walk every step of. Their people were not being treated much better. And the worst was passing through the villages where the local people cheered for the victors and yelled insults to the defeated.

“How was it? Are you OK?” Mack asked Logan while they were riding back.

“I didn’t think it would be that…”

“Horrible?”

“Yes, horrible.”

“But you made it. You did well. Both of us did. Did you manage to kill some of them?”

“I’m not regretting the people I didn’t kill, Mack.” Logan clenched Ontari’s sword again, “Do you ever think about it? Paul?”

“Don’t torture yourself about it. Paul had to go. These people had to go. Now we get our lives back.”

Logan nodded.

“And now we’re on a new mission. Getting your girl back.”

\---

When the army arrived to Polis, the rebels were led to the main square. All the people in the capitol that day were gathered around, shoving each other to get a better view. After so much walking, Cameron and Russell were led into the center of the square. They looked around and saw queens, Gem and Nia, on a big podium with Lexa walking closer to them. Logan and Mack were in the crowd.

“As I have promised you, the Coalition is whole once again!” Lexa’s words were met with loud screams of approval, “These are the murderers from Sankru! So you and your families, your children can sleep soundly again! This is what happened to those who doubted in the wisdom of the Commander’s spirit. Who doubted the sacred blood! Now, they wanted a world without order. A world without proper leadership, a world of anarchy. While I wasn’t prepared to give then that, I am aware that slavery has become a major problem in some of the outer clans. That is why I’ve decided to keep the shelter they organized in Sankru working with the help of Queen Gem, the rightful ruler of Sankru. Cameron and Russell of the Sky People, I will allow the rest of your army to return there. As for you… I will let you live. If you kneel.”

Cameron looked around, looked at the faces of the people he was supposed to lead to freedom, but instead he led them here. He led even more to death. Russell thought about how it all got this far. How simply wanting to be free turned into this. How quickly it escaladed, how quickly it all fell apart right in front of his eyes. He looked down and started bending his knees.

“No!” Cam yelled, “I don’t know about you, but this fight was all I had. I am never kneeling for anyone.”

“Then neither am I.” Russ stopped. Two guards started going towards them to make them kneel, but Lexa stopped them.

“They want to die a warrior’s death. Standing up. And we’ll give them that.”

Cameron thought about what Pala said. They were heroes. No matter what. The archers fired on Lexa’s signal killing both of the rebel leaders.

Logan looked away. He couldn’t stand seeing one more drop of blood after the battle. It was enough. After the war there had to come peace, right? Eventually.

 “Abolishing slavery in Trikru was one of the very first decisions I made after becoming Commander. Today I am extending that ruling to all the 12 clans in the Coalition! This involves even people without slave marks, every person that is forced to work or remain somewhere against their will. The punishment for selling or using slaves will be death. The leaders of every clan have two years to solve the slave problem in their clan peacefully. After that supervisors will be sent to every corner of the Coalition to make sure my law is honored.”

The crowd was completely quiet, surprised by the Commander’s decision.

“Just to show, how serious I am in honoring my words here today, I call for Queen Nia to release her second. A Nightblood, who’s been kidnapped against our tradition and forcefully trained at the Queen’s estate.”

 “Did you?” Logan turned to Mack.

“No. You?”

Logan nodded “no”. Nia was also surprised at this new development. She looked like she wanted to strangle the Commander before admitting defeat and calling for her people to bring Ontari. Obviously she wasn’t that far away.

“You can say whatever you want about Lexa, but she knows how to get even.” Mack smirked.

Logan was quiet. Could it be that simple? Was he really going to get Ontari back? His mind started racing with all the horrible things she must have had to endure because of his stupid idea to run.

“Come on, get over there!” Mack nudged her friend because Lexa was looking in his direction.

He walked over to Lexa and waited. Waited. Ontari came in from the opposite side of the crowd. One guard was helping her walk since there was something wrong with her leg. And her cuts looked fresh. Damn that old bat!

Logan ran to Ontari and immediately hugged her.

“Ai na kep yu klir in. Kos… Ai hod yu in. [I’ll keep you safe. Because… I love you.]” Logan repeated what Mack had taught him. Ontari smiled and kissed him.

“Do you even know what you said?” she asked.

“Sha. [Yes.]” That one he knew already.

It was visible in the way Ontari moved that she was in a lot of pain. Mack ran over too to help Ontari walk.

“I’m Mackenzie, I’m Logan’s friend.” she said and Ontari nodded, “Your boyfriend is quite the badass.”

“Thank you, Commander.” Logan finally remembered to say.

“Thank you for getting that information to me on time. The people of all the clans owe you two Sky People a big debt.”

\---

“So you’re staying?” Logan asked Mack.

“The Commander offered me a place here in Polis. It’s not exactly what I wanted, but it’s cool too.”

“Then this is goodbye. We’re going to hit the coast. Get as far away from Nia as possible.” Logan looked back at where Ontari was resting in the shade.

“So you’ll never get back to Azgeda?”

“Maybe later. But for now safety comes first.”

“OK.” Mack said and hugged Logan.

“Take care of his helpless ass for me.” Mack yelled to Ontari.

“I am not helpless.”

“Still, you’re lucky to have her.”

“Yes, I am.” Logan smirked.

Heda gave them a carriage to start their journey since Ontari was recovering from serious injuries. Mack waved as they departed.

“They’re lucky.” she heard a voice behind her.

“Echo?” Mack recognized her former master, “You’ve recovered?”

“Yes. I was at the gathering today.”

“If you’ve come for Folau, I just took her until you came back.” Mack handed the woman the rains to her horse. Echo said nothing so Mack just turned around and started walking away.

“If we want to get to Azgeda by sundown, we should really get going?” Echo said, without an expression.

“Really? I’m still your second? After everything?”

“I talked to the Queen. I’ve been in the Assassins as long as I can remember, I served her loyally for over ten years as a part of her guard. I asked her for a favor.”

“For me?” Mack couldn’t help but smile. After all that talk in training about “every man for himself” Echo was sticking her neck out for her.

“If you’re still willing to learn. You’ve been through more than most seconds, but I think there is a lot I can still teach you.”

Mack was over the moon, but of course, couldn’t show it. She just gave Echo a little smile.

“You know, the Queen is not going to forget what you did. She’ll give you the hardest tasks. The other Assassins will resent you. It might be a while before it feels like home.” Echo warned her.

“I can handle it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it.  
> I decided to share this even though I wrote it for an entirely different reason and I hope someone enjoyed it.


End file.
